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THE BEAUTY OF GOD 



THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

AS REVEALED IN HIS WORKS, HIS WRIT- 
TEN WORD, AND THE LIVING WORD 
THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF 
LIFE AND LIGHT AND 
LOVE 



BY 

JOHN HOOD, A. M., M. D. 



SURELY, SURELY THERE IS SOMEWHERE AN IDEAL 
HOLY ONE WHOM 1 CAN TRUST UTTERLY. OH, THAT 
] MIGHT IF BUT FOR A MOMENT BEHOLD HIS PER- 
FECT BEAUTY. 

- CHARLES KINGSLEY- 



J. LANAHAN 
BALTIMORE 



31 

.vn 



[LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
I Two Codes Received 

DEC 1 »908 

Copynunt fcntry _, 
CUSS cJ KteNo. 

cow • 



Copyright 1908 
By JOHN HOOD 



To 

All who, through more abundant Life, 

brighter inner light, and more ardent love, 

are striving to attain a clearer vision 

of the Beauty of God 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Prologue 9 

I. Beauty 23 

II. "Life Eternal" 39 

III. "The Way to Life" 53 

IV. "Saved by His Life" 65 

V. Eternal Knowledge 79 

VI. Eternal Knowledge: How to at- 
tain it 95 

VII. Light 109 

VIII. Love 137 

IX. The Supremacy of Love 157 

X. The Voice of God 179 

XI. The Divine Government of Men . . . 191 
XII. Prayer 211 

XIII. The Incarnation 237 

XIV. "The Teacher Come from God". . . .201 
XV. The Cross 287 

XVI. "Looking unto Jesus" 319 

XVII. The Witnessing Spirit 337 

XVIII. "His Eternal Glory" 351 

Epilogue 365 



PROLOGUE 



Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the 
power, and the glory, and the victory, and, the 
majesty. 

— 1 Chronicles 19:11. 



The infinite perfections of God so harmonize as 
to constitute in His Person and Character an un- 
ending state of infinitely perfect Beauty. 



The Word reveals the Divine Essence. His 
incarnation makes that Life, that Love, that 
Light which are eternally resident in God obvious 
to souls that steadily contemplate Himself. These 
terms, Life, Love, Light, — so abstract, so simple, 
so suggestive — meet in God; but they meet also 
in Jesus Christ. They do not only make Him 
a centre of philosophy; they belong to the mystic 
language of faith more truly than to the abstract 
terminology of speculative thought. They draw 
hearts to Jesus; they invest Him with a higher 
than any intellectual beauty. 

— H. P. Liddon. 



PROLOGUE 

The trend of scholarship in our day is looking 
toward the unseen world, out of which comes the 
world of the senses. The transformation of the 
invisible into the visible is so ethereal that the 
learned in all countries and in all ages have been 
divided in their views concerning the real and 
substantial; some holding that the immaterial 
alone is real, and others that only the material 
is substantial. The weight of authority oscillates 
between these extreme views. After swinging 
more than a generation toward the things that 
are seen, the pendulum of scientific thought is 
now moving toward those that are not seen. 

"What, after a little patient thinking," says J. 
Bryerly, "becomes clear up to the point of cer- 
tainty, is that everywhere the seen is the off- 
spring of the unseen, that the visible is, so to 
say, a secretion or deposit of the invisible, that 
matter is the handmaid and plaything of thought ; 
that in a word the one primordial and universal 
reality is spirit. What after all is the whole ma- 
terial universe but a mass of petrified thoughts! 

"The mere fact that we can give any rational 
account of the world argues, when we think the 
matter out, a Reason immanent in it which an- 
swers to our own. Every piece of its matter, 
related as it is to time and space, to cause and 
effect, to similarity and dissimilarity, to genera 



12 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and species, to statics and dynamics, to chemical, 
biological, and infinite other affinities, is by these 
very facts seen to be penetrated through and 
through with logic, with reason, with will, in a 
word, with spirit. It is not poetry, nor senti- 
ment, nor the religious instinct only which de- 
clares the material world to be the vesture of an 
Eternal Mind. The dry necessities of logic leave 
no other conclusion open. 

"Science and philosophy, in their latest forms, 
are asking whether cosmic force, in the final anal- 
ysis, is not as clear an expression of will as is 
spiritual love. A coherent view of the universe 
demands conscious Spirit as much behind gravi- 
tation as behind affection. Natural laws are be- 
ginning to be realized as God's habits in that 
sphere. Their performance means the perma- 
nence of His character." 

The things that are made and the laws that 
control them, when correctly interpreted, reveal 
one sovereign Power, one unerring Mind, one di- 
recting Will, in One Supreme Being of inexhaus- 
tible resources and infinite wisdom. "It is mors 
and more clearly seen," says President Gilman, 
"that the interpretation of the laws by which the 
universe is governed, extending from the invisible 
rays of the celestial world to the most minute 
manifestations of organic life, reveals one plan, 
one purpose, one supreme sovereignty — far trans- 
cending the highest conceptions to which the hu- 
man mind can attain respecting this Sovereign 
and Infinite Power." 



PROLOGUE 13 

Through scientific investigation Nature has 
oeen subjected to the most rigid and delicate 
tests that time and skill have invented. In the 
final analysis of inorganic matter "The Chemist," 
President Remsen says, "comes face to face with 
facts which lead to the belief that the smallest 
particles yet discovered are immense as compared 
with those of which he has good reason to believe 
the various kinds of matter to be made up." 

In the ultimate analysis of organized matter 
the Biologist comes face to face with facts even 
more astounding than those which the Chemist 
finds. Professor Wilson, of Columbia University, 
in his work, "The Cell and Heredity," affirms 
that the more the cell is studied the farther re- 
moved it appears from the inorganic world. The 
cell is composed of matter and energy plus a some- 
thing that cannot be tested by the methods ap- 
plicable to matter and energy. This intangible 
something — this life-property, or organizing pow- 
er, without which the cell would be nothing but 
dead matter, cannot be regarded as a product of 
the matter composing the cell, inasmuch as the 
matter of the cells or germs is identical for or- 
ganisms which are vastly different in their final 
structure. For example, the germ cells of a polyp 
and of a fish are substantially alike and may grow 
side by side in the some drop of water, the one 
becoming a simple polyp and the other attaining 
the complex form of a fish. From this it is evi- 
dent that neither the mere substance of the cells 
nor anything in the environment can account for 



14 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the life-property or organizing power which is 
manifested by their difference in development. 

Of this organizing power of the germ Profes- 
sor Brooks, of the Johns Hopkins University, 
says : "While we know nothing of its origin there 
seem to be insuperable objections to the view 
that the organizing power is either matter or 
energy. If it is physical energy, or wave motion, 
or perigenesis of plastidules, it is hard to under- 
stand why it has not all been dissipated long ago, 
or how it can be mutiplied." 

Thus the master Chemist and two master Biol- 
ogists concur with the master Physicist, Lord 
Kelvin, when he says that "we have before us an 
unknown object in science." 

Besides this "unknown object" there are other 
facts that the light of science fails to illuminate. 
Frederick Harrison asserts that science can never 
explain man as a loving, social, moral and relig- 
ious being. "This side of man's nature," he says, 
"the greatest side of his nature, the largest, most 
dominant and most sublime fact in all nature, 
can only be explained by social science, solid phi- 
losophy, true religion. The central and vivifying 
life-blood of this social science, of this philoso- 
phy, of this religion for completing the develop- 
ment of humanity, is not evolution, but faith, 
hope and love." 

Returning to the "unknown object before us in 
science," we see that in "consideration of both the 
inorganic and organic worlds we are left to the 
logical conclusion that visible things are mani- 



PROLOGUE 15 

festations of things that are invisible, of realities 
that manifest themselves, of powers in control." 

"It is surely clear to all," says Dr. J. S. Chris- 
tison, "that, owing to the imperfect state of sci- 
ence, it is in no position to dogmatize respecting 
the scheme of Nature, or even upon Nature's pos- 
sibilities. Furthermore," he says, "it appears 
as a revelation of its own that in respect to the 
solution of any fundamental scheme of Nature 
science is utterly helpless and hopeless, inasmuch 
as the greatest of all her discoveries is the fact 
that science is doomed to labor forever, in the 
clouds of a universal paradox wherein the farther 
she proceeds the more remote seems the end." 
Edmund Burke saw this fact clearly and stated 
it plainly in simple language. "The great chain 
of causes," he says, "which links one to another, 
even to the throne of God Himself, can never be 
unraveled by any industry of ours. When we go 
but one step beyond the immediate sensible qual- 
ities of things, we go out of our depth." One of 
the latest exponents of the evolutionary philoso- 
phy gives the following as the latest word of sci- 
ence: "All is quivering with energy 

Matter is indestructible, motion is continuous, and 
beneath both these fundamental truths lies the 
fundamental truth that force is persistent. All 
the myriad phenomena of the universe are man- 
ifestations of a single animating principle, that 
is both infinite and eternal." 

Evidently science "by searching has not found 
God." Through the aid of philosophy she has 



16 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

reached the conclusion that there is everywhere 
an infinite and eternal energy out of which all 
things forever proceed and on which all things 
forever depend. She cannot, however, determine 
whether this infinite energy is merely a blind 
force, or an intelligent and conscious Person. 
Here the Written Revelation of God comes to the 
aid of science and philosophy, and illuminates 
their final conclusion. 

When we search through the visible world we 
find evidences of stupendous power, we see every- 
where exquisite harmony and adaptation, and we 
discover inexhaustible resources. The researches 
of science in this vast realm of phenomena have 
brought to light three ultimate facts, to wit, unity 
of form, unity of substantial composition, and 
unity of power. These facts indicate the sway 
of one Sceptre over the seen and the unseen. 

In the midst of this magnificent manifestation 
of power, and order, and beauty, at the head of 
the living world, stands man, endowed with per- 
sonality, intellectuality, reason, and will; gifted 
with imagination, memory, and language; and 
dowered with faith, hope and love. These en- 
dowments could only have been developed in man 
by One Supreme Intelligence who possesses them 
in infinite perfection, and whose Sceptre controls 
and directs the laws, and forces, and materials 
of the universe. Has this Master Artist finished 
His works and left no word, spoken or written, 
concerning their origin and the character of their 
Architect and Builder? Has no articulate voice 



PROLOGUE 17 

but that of man ever been heard on this planet? 
Has earth's silence never been broken by a Divine 
voice? Has He who imparted the power of 
speech not spoken? Has no Written Word from 
Him come down to us through the cycles of time? 

Finding ourselves living and working on the 
earth amid the splendid works of the Divine Art- 
ist, with innate desires to know the ought, the 
whence, and the whither, it is reasonable to be- 
lieve, in view of the facts before us, that we 
would have the answers in articulate language 
to the questions that arise in our minds, con- 
cerning the origin and design of the universe, 
and of the sense of duty in our hearts. 

We have in our possession a collection of an- 
cient books and letters, composed by many au- 
thors, of various positions in life, from the king 
on the throne to the herdsman in the field and the 
fisherman in his boat. Their writing extended 
through a period of sixteen centuries. The wri- 
ters portray an infinite and eternal Person, pos- 
sessing infinite and eternal energy, dwelling in 
the High and Holy Court of the universe, the 
foundations of whose Throne are righteousness 
and judgment. This Divine Person is the Cre- 
ator through whose will and ever-acting Power 
Nature exists. According to these Books He re- 
veals Himself to men and angels in three great 
methods: (1) in His Works, (2) in articulate 
language, and (3) by Self-limitation in the Life 
and Cross of Jesus the Christ. These three are 
so blended that they constitute one great and 



18 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

glorious system of Divine Revelation. To these 
might be added a fourth method, found in the 
life of the human family. "History," said Kos- 
suth, "is the Revelation of Providence." God 
also gives His Good Spirit to the children of men 
to instruct them and to enlighten their hearts, 
so that every one who wills to be guided by the 
promptings of this inner Monitor may appropri- 
ate the saying of Socrates: "I am moved by a 
certain Divine and Spiritual influence." 

With the first method alone science is concern- 
ed and beyond it the vision of the scientist can- 
not reach. In fact our correct ideas of the un- 
seen and of the character of the Builder and 
Maker of all things have come to us, not from 
scientific researches, but from the Bible which 
contains "the thoughts of God in the language 
of men." These ideas are often used in the name 
of science, but to every one who thus uses them 
the words of Dryden forcibly appeal: 

"Revealed religion first informed thy sight, 
And reason saw not till faith sprung to light." 

Faith, only faith is the evidence of things not 
seen. "Once know God otherwise than by dis- 
covery, once believe His Being upon the same 
foundation as you believe the existence of the 
world without your own personality, and the 
truth of self-evident propositions, all of which 
are incapable alike of proof and refutation; once 
apprehend Him as the Incomprehensible One in 
whom we live and move and have our being, 



PROLOGUE 19 

and then the world and all the worlds become 
the sublimest commentary and illustration of His 
transcending attributes, being, in truth, His ut- 
tered word still vibrating under the concave of 
immensity." 

Now if we turn to the Written Word of God 
we may find something said therein of the un- 
known quantity that confronts us in science. 
Paul in his second epistle to the Corinthians says, 
"the things that are seen are temporal, but the 
things that are not seen are eternal." In the 
Book of Hebrews we are told that "the worlds 
have been framed by the word of God, so that 
what is seen hath not been made out of things 
which appear." These words accord with the 
results of the most skillful scientific tests on 
atoms and germs, in which unseeable and un- 
knowable particles and forces are at work back 
of all that the microscope can reveal. Upon this 
transmutation of the invisible into the visible 
light is reflected from the first words of the first 
chapter of Genesis. From careful study of these 
words we learn that in Eternity, not out of noth- 
ing but of Himself, God generated the immaterial 
substance out of which the universe was made. 
That substance was "without form and void," was 
unwrought and invisible, and therefore did not 
possess the properties of matter. "These pri- 
mordial elements alone were created in the strict 
sense of the term, and Nature was developed out 
of these according to a fixed order of natural 
operation, under the supreme guidance of the 



20 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Divine administration," and thus Nature became 
endowed with a kind of selfhood of her own. 
The Spirit of God incubating, brooding over 
(fovens et vivicans) these invisible "waters," or 
unbounded fluids, generated the world. While 
this vivifying and developing work was progress- 
ing, God said "Let there be light and there was 
light" — light flashing out through the evolving 
universe, and in alliance with life giving form 
and tone to the newly generated worlds and all 
that is in them. 

"Love is of God" and moved Him to create. 
Life and Light, like Love, are also of God and 
are eternally resident in Him. They, therefore, 
are no part of creation. They are unbegotten 
and eternal. In Life is power, under proper con- 
ditions, to produce infinite varieties of living be- 
ings. In the element Light, involving heat, elec- 
tricity, and magnetism, is power to move, ani 
warm, and illuminate the universe. In Love Is 
power to draw us to God, and to our fellowmen, 
and to beget kindness and gentleness in our hearts 
toward the mute creatures below us. 

In the study of the universe the final conclusion 
of science is, as we have seen, that all things 
have proceeded from an infinite and eternal en- 
ergy. This unknowable energy is the unknown 
object that confronts us in science. Now let us, 
passing over all preceding and preparatory rev- 
elations recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, see 
what is the final word in regard to the character 
of God the Creator, by whom and "because of 



PROLOGUE 21 

whose will all things were, and were created." 
For this purpose we turn to the writings of their 
last author and in them we find written: "God 
is life ; God is light ; God is love." Here the pen 
of inspiration drops from the hand of the Be- 
loved disciple to be taken up no more, for the 
climax of the Written Revelation has been reach- 
ed. The "infinite and eternal energy" of science 
thus comes out in the Bible as "the Living God," 
"the Everlasting Father," having life in Himsel+', 
dwelling in eternal light, and working in infinite 
love. Life, Light, and Love, as is here clearly 
seen, stand apart from and above every thing 
created. They are elements in the Being of God 
the Creator, and reveal, through the things that 
are made, His character and glory; thus filling 
the world with joy, beauty and loveliness. 

Living in the light of these truths we look into 
the face of James D. Dana, the master geologist, 
and repeat with him his own sublime words: 
"Believing that Nature exists through the Will 
and ever-acting power of the Divine Being; that 
all its great truths, its beauties, its harmonies 
are manifestations of His wisdom and power; 
that the whole universe is not only dependent on, 
but actually is, the Will of One Supreme Intel- 
ligence, Nature with man as its culminant species 
is no longer a mystery." The Beauty of the pow- 
er, the wisdom, and the goodness of God breaks 
in everywhere. 



BE A UTY 



He hath made everything beautiful in its time. 
— Ecclesiastes 3:11. 



How great is His beauty! 

— Zechariah 9:17. 



Beauty is multitude in unity. 

— Old Roman Idea. 



Thou art, O God, the life and light 
Of all this wondrous world we see; 

Its glow by day, its smiles by night, 
Are but reflections caught from Thee. 

Where'er we turn Thy glories shine, 

And all things fair and bright are Thine. 

— Moore. 



How beautiful are all things when 

we learn to prize them 
Not for their sake but His Who grants 

them or denies them. 



Heat cannot be separated from fire, nor beauty 
from the Eternal God. 

— Dante. 



BEAUTY 

On a certain occasion where old age, mature 
life, and youth were represented the question, 
"Which season of life is most happy?" was freely 
discussed by the guests. The subject was finally 
referred to the host, upon whom rested the bur- 
den of four-score years. He inquired whether 
they had observed the grove in front of the man- 
sion, and said : "When spring returns and in 
the warm air the buds are unfolding and the 
trees are covered with blossoms, I think, How 
beautiful is Spring! When Summer comes and 
covers the trees with foliage and singing birds 
hop from twig to twig, I think, How beautiful is 
Summer! When Autumn bends their branches 
with the weight of golden fruit and their leaves 
become tinted by the early frosts, I think, How 
beautiful is Autumn! And finally when Winter 
reigns and there is neither blossom, nor foliage, 
nor fruit, I look up through the bare branches 
as I never could until now, and I see the stars 
shining through them." 

Each season has its own peculiar display of 
the beautiful and thus all through the year beau- 
ty reigns. "God has made every thing beautiful 
in its time." 

The outer world in which we live and work 
is worthy, through its beauty alone, to be oc- 



26 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

cupied — worthy to be studied, even by angels — 
worthy though marred through the disturbing 
touch of sin. "Its paths so full of melody, and 
fragrance, and beauty, are fitted to lead to heav- 
en, and the starry vault which overhangs them 
is a suitable portico to God's eternal Temple. 
Praised be God for the world of matter and all 
its accompaniments — for the air which not only 
fans the lungs and purifies the stream of life, 
but at our bidding wafts our most secret thoughts 
and feelings to our beloved fellow-minds ; for the 
waters which not only fertilize and refresh the 
earth, but bind its continents and islands into 
one brotherhood; for the light whose vibrations 
enable us to touch the most distant planet, and 
whose rich beams overspread both earth and sky 
with charms." 

Lovely as is the outer world, its beauty does 
not compare with the exceeding beauty of the in- 
ner — the world of thought and emotion. "The 
beauty of material things is one; that of the 
mind is threefold — the beauty of the present, of 
the past, and of the future. The heavens and 
the earth are drawn within our imagination in 
those forms in which the soul has most delight. 
The past too is there according to the affinities 
of our minds. The future also is within. Hope — 
the busy artist of the mind — runs forward and 
paints the approaching scene in light. The beau- 
ties of nature are fixed; not so the beauties of 
the mind — they are changeable at will. The beau- 
ties of nature are attended with deformities. The 
mind can present us with thornless roses and un- 



BEAUTY 27 

mingled fragrance. Milton's Eden blooms with 
beauties that can be combined only in the soul/' 

Not all within, however, is beautiful. "There 
are marks even in the soul, of dislocation and 
disorder; there are chasms and storms and des- 
erts, often more awful than those of the external 
world ; yet over the whole a grandeur like to that 
of archangel ruined, reigns." 

In the outer world, more or less marred by sin, 
perfect beauty is rarely seen, and in the world of 
human thought and emotion, where sin has 
wrought so much havoc, complete beauty is prob- 
ably never found. On the other hand complete 
ugliness is as rare, possibly, as perfect beauty. 
"Absolute ugliness," says Ruskin, "is admitted 
as rarely as perfect beauty; but degrees of it — 
more or less distinct are associated with what- 
ever has the nature of death and sin, just as 
beauty is associated with whatever has the nature 
of virtue and life." "Nothing," affirms Balzac, 
"is irredeemably ugly but sin." 

Of Keats' well known line, "A thing of beauty 
is a joy forever," Ruskin says that "what joy 
remains for us and our children — in the fields, 
the home, and the churches, we must win by oth- 
erwise reading the fallacious line. A beautiful 
thing may exist but for a moment as a reality : — 
it exists for ever as a testimony. To the law 
and to the witness of it the nations must ever- 
more appeal; and in very deed and very truth, 
a thing of beauty is a law for ever. 

"That is the true meaning of classic art and 
of classic literature : — not the license of pleasure, 



28 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

but the law of goodness ; and if of the two words, 
beauty and goodness, one can be left unspoken, 
it is the first, not the last. It is written that the 
Creator of all things beheld them — not in that 
they were beautiful, but in that they were good. 

"This law of beauty may, for aught we know, 
be fulfilling itself more fully as the years roll 
on; but at least it is one from which no jot shall 
pass. The beauty of Greece depended on the laws 
of Lycurgus ; the beauty of Rome, on those of 
Numa; our own on the laws of Christ. On 
all the beautiful features of men and women, 
throughout the ages, are written the solemnities 
and majesty of the law they knew, with the char- 
ity and the meekness of their obedience; on 
all unbeautiful features are written either ig- 
norance of the law, or the malice and insolence 
of the disobedience." 

Michael Angelo, when asked if the delicate 
finishing touches he was giving a fine piece of 
statuary were not trifles, replied, "Trifles make 
perfection, but perfection is no trifle." Devel- 
oping the thought of this epigram, we find that 
whatever, in its time and order, is perfect, in 
which all its parts and qualities, though they te 
trifles, are harmonious and complete, is beauti- 
ful. Beauty is thus seen to be a state or con- 
dition; in fact a form of harmony, and so Keats 
is speaking the language of science as well as 
of poetry, when he sings : 

"O what a wild and harmonized tune 
My spirit struck from all the beautiful." 



BEAUTY 29 

Beauty awakens in the soul of the beholder, 
through the senses, or through perception, a feel- 
ing of delight and admiration. This feeling is 
natural, for all beauty, so to speak, is an efflu- 
ence from the beautiful in God, the Creator, in 
whose image and likeness man was fashioned. 
Some one has said that flowers, with which God 
has belted the earth, are expressions of the idea 
of the beautiful as it exists in the Divine Mind. 
Wilberforce says, "Lovely flowers are smiles of 
God's goodness." Linnaeus, after watching the 
opening of a beautiful flower, exclaimed, "I saw 
God as He passed by in His glory and I bowed 
my head in worship." "See," said Hafid, "yon 
bush aflame with roses like the burning bush on 
Horeb, the Mount of God. Listen, and thou shalt 
hear, if thy soul be not deaf, how from out it, 
soft and clear, speaks the Lord Almighty." "The 
Omnipotent," says Richter, "has sown His name 
on the heavens in glittering stars, but on the 
earth He planteth His name by tender flowers;" 
and Jacobi says, "As a countenance is made beau- 
tiful by the soul's shining through it, so the world 
is beautiful by the shining through it of God." 

"A flower," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, "is 
an Amen flung from the mute lips of nature." 
In this poetic utterance is infolded a great truth. 
The mute life of nature, ever responsive to the 
Creator's word that is still vibrating through the 
universe in every atom and cell, is unceasingly 
throwing off Amens in her silent praise of Him 
who is of all things the Maker and the Beau- 
tifier. 



30 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

When God manifests the beautiful in material 
forms and colors we behold physical beauty ; when 
He reveals it through the activities of the mind 
we discern intellectual beauty ; and when He caus- 
es it to shine out through the excellences of the 
spirit we are favored with a perception of spir- 
itual beauty. 

The lines of physical beauty are everywhere 
seen over earth, and sea, and sky. The stars 
move in lines of beauty; the mountains and the 
hills and the valleys are moulded in curves of 
beauty ; while the "multitudinous seas" are cov- 
ered with waves of beauty. 

Emerson, in his keen and minute observation 
of phenomena, declares: 

"Nature cannot be surprised in undress, 
Beauty breaks in everywhere." 

Tennyson affirms that "Nothing in Nature is 
unbeautiful," and Longfellow says, "Nature is a 
revelation of God," while Bancroft asserts that 
"Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the 
Infinite," and Milton calls it "God's hand- 
writing." 

In whatever direction our eyes are turned 
beauty greets us. If we look upward into the 
deep blue sky the glowing sun shines upon us 
by day, and in the stillness of the night "the 
innumerable stars singing in order, like a living 
hymn written in light," 

"Hang bright above us, silent, 
As if they watched the sleeping earth." 



BEAUTY 31 

If we look over the revolving earth we find it 
girdled with 

"Flowers so blue and pink and golden, 
Stars that in earth's firmament do shine," 

while in the limitless air the birds "in plumage 
delicate and beautiful" wing their pathless course, 
and the lovely forms of clouds, 

"Bathed in the tenderest purple of distance, 
Tinted and shadowed by pencils of light, 
Loom up sublimely, aloft and afar.", 

"Beauty," writes Channing, "is an all-pervad- 
ing presence. It unfolds to the numberless flow- 
ers of Spring; it waves in the branches of the 
trees and the green blades of grass; it haunts 
the depths of the earth and the sea, and gleams 
out in the hues of the shell and the precious 
stone. And not only these minute objects, but 
the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heav- 
ens, the stars, the rising and setting sun all 
overflow with beauty." 

"Nature," says Whittier, "eschews regular 
lines; she does not shape her lines by a com- 
mon model. Not one of Eve's numerous pro- 
geny in all repects resembles her who first cull- 
ed the flowers of Eden. To the infinite variety 
and picturesque inequality of nature we owe the 
great charm of her uncloying beauty." 

"Though nature is constantly beautiful," says 
Ruskin, "she does not exhibit her highest pow- 
ers of beauty constantly; for then they would 
satiate us and pall upon our senses. It is nee- 



32 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

essary to their appreciation that they should be 
rarely shown. Her finest touches are things 
which must be watched for; her most perfect 
passages of beauty are most evanescent." 

Three Divine attendants, figuratively speaking, 
in the High and Holy Court of the Universe, to 
wit, Life, and Light, and Love form the trio of 
Divine Artists that beautify the heavens and the 
earth. Life evolves the most complex and most 
lovely specimens of beauty; Light reveals and 
paints in varied hues the forms of the beautiful ; 
and Love deftly retouches those forms with her 
softening highlights. 

Nature is loved by what is best in us, and 
is so loved probably because there is something 
of the best of nature in man, and something of 
the best of man in nature. "One touch of nature 
makes the whole world kin." 

"The rounded world is fair to see, 
Nine times folded in mystery; 
Though baffled seer cannot impart 
The secret of its laboring heart 
Throb thine with nature's throbbing breast, 
And all is clear from east to west. 
Spirit that lurks each form within, 
Beckons to spirit of its kin." 

"Beauty has so many charms," says Sterne, 
"one knows not how to speak against it; and 
when it happens that a graceful figure is the 
habitation of a virtuous soul, when the beauty 
of the face speaks out the modesty and humility 
of the mind, and the justness of the proportions 
raises our thoughts up to the heart and wisdom 
of the great Creator, something may be allowed 



BEAUTY 33 

it, and something to the embellishments which 
set it off; yet when the whole apology is read, 
it will be found at last that beauty, like truth, 
never is so glorious as when it is the plainest.'' 

"Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue." 

"Beauty, like truth and justice, lives within 
us; like virtue and like moral law, it is a com- 
panion of the soul." 

"Though we travel the world over to find the 
beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find 
it not." 

"The greatest truths are wronged if not linked 
with beauty ; and they win their way most surely 
and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this 
their natural and fit attire." 

"Beauty is an exquisite flower and its perfume 
is virtue." 

"By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the 
seeds of heavenly flowers." 

The mud in the streets of the city contains 
the materials out of which God makes diamonds 
and emeralds. He takes the muddy water out 
of the brook and, lifting it up into the dome of 
heaven, paints across the sky, through the fall- 
ing drops of that cloudy water, a rainbow of 
matchless beauty. Who, that has looked upon 
the morning clouds illumined and tinted by the 
rising sun, has not been filled with wonder at 
the beauty which the Creator has spread over 
the sky? How lavish must He be in riches of 
goodness and beauty who can paint pictures so 
exquisitely lovely, then blot them out and go on 
painting others equally beautiful! "Nature, the 



34 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

great missionary of the Most High," says Mrs. 
Child, "preaches to us forever in all tones of love, 
and writes truth in all colors and forms, on man- 
uscripts illuminated with stars and flowers." 
Mrs. Browning sweetly sings: 



"The essence of all beauty I call love; 
The attribute, the evidence, and end, 
The consummation to the inward sense 
Of beauty apprehended from without, 
I still call love." 



An Indian philosopher, being asked what were, 
according to his opinion, the two most beautiful 
things in the universe, replied : "The starry heav- 
ens above our heads, and the feeling of duty in 
our hearts." This feeling of duty throbs in uni- 
son with the great Heart of the universe, for 
"beauty without virtue is like a flower without 
perfume." "The most natural beauty in the world 
is honesty and moral truth. All beauty is truth. 
True features make the beauty of the face, and 
true proportions the beauty of architecture, as 
true measure that of harmony and music." "How 
much more," says Shakspeare, "doth beauty beau- 
teous seem by that sweet ornament which truth 
doth give." 

Schiller informs us that in days of yore noth- 
ing was holy but the beautiful. "It is only through 
the morning gate of the beautiful," he also says, 
"that you can penetrate into the gate of knowl- 
edge. That which we feel here as beauty we 
shall one day know as truth." Through the vista 
of twenty-five centuries shines Sappho's lovely 



BEAUTY 35 

epigram: "What is good is beautiful; who is 
good will soon be also beautiful." 

"Beauty is only worthy of admiration," says 
Charles Kingsley, "when it is the outward sac- 
rament of the beauty of the soul within. Nothing 
that man ever invents will absolve him from the 
universal necessity of being good as God is good, 
righteous as God is righteous, and holy as God 
is holy. 

"The old Hebrew Scriptures teach that phy- 
sical beauty is the deepest of all spiritual sym- 
bols, and though beauty without discretion be 
the jewel of gold in the swine's snout, yet the 
jewel of gold it is still, the sacrament of an 
inward beauty, which ought to be and perhaps 
hereafter may be, fulfilled in spirit and in truth. 

"Form and color are but vehicles for the mean- 
ing of spiritual beauty. 

"All melody and harmony upon earth, whether 
in the song of birds, the whisper of the wind, 
the concourse of voices, or the sounds of those 
cunning instruments, which man has learnt to 
create, because he is made in the image of Christ, 
the Word of God, who creates all things; all 
music upon earth is beautiful in so far as it is 
the pattern and type of the everlasting music 
which is in heaven, which was before all worlds 
and shall be after them." 

In the world of the "infinitely little" the micro- 
scope has opened to our view a vast realm of 
astonishing beauty. "Microscopic currents, simi- 
lar to those of the hairs of the nettle, have been 
observed in a great variety of plants," says Pro- 



36 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

fessor Huxley, "and weighty authorities have 
suggested that they probably occur, in more or 
less perfection in all young vegetable cells. If 
such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence 
of a tropical forest is, after all, due only to the 
dullness of our hearing; and could our ears catch 
the murmur of these tiny maelstroms as they 
whirl in the innumerable myriads of living cells 
which constitute each tree, we should be stunned 
as with the roar of a great city." And could our 
eyes behold these tiny, whirling maelstroms of 
living fluids as they circulate through the living 
cells of the trees of the forest, we should be 
charmed with their beauty. 

Now if the trees, and the flowers, and the 
skies, which are mere shadowgraphs of the beau- 
ty in which God dwells, are so beautifully ar- 
rayed, how exceedingly beautiful must be their 
Creator who conceives them, and fashions them, 
and clothes them in beauty! 

There is no attribute of God that is not ex- 
quisitely beautiful and awfully sublime. There 
is no object beautiful and sublime but as it re- 
sembles God. When we have a correct appre- 
hension of the Almighty One the universe be- 
comes a Bethel and every truth we learn a round 
in Jacob's ladder. When the mind approaches 
the thought of Jehovah in His beauty it attains 
its highest elevation, and pours forth its richest 
songs. In the hymn before sunrise in the vale 
of Chamouny, how the mind of Coleridge as he 
rises to the thought of the Creator, becomes in- 
vigorated for his song! 



BEAUTY 27 

"Entranced in prayer, 
I worship the Invisible alone." 

His inspiration increases as he advances till he 
exclaims : 

"Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow 

Adown enormous ravines sloap amain — 

Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, 

And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! 

Motionless torrents! silent cataracts! 

Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven 

Beneath the keen full moon? Who bad the sun 

Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers 

Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet? 

God! let the torrents, like a shout of nations, 

Answer! and let the ice-planes echo, God! 

God! sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice! 

Ye pine-groves with your soft and soul-like sounds! 

And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow, 

And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God! 

Thou too, hoar mount, with thy sky-pointing peaks, 
Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! 
Thou kingly spirit throned among the hills, 
Thou dread ambassador from Earth to Heaven, 
Great Hierarch! Tell thou the silent sky, 
And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun, 
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God." 

The forms of beauty that haunt the earth, and 
the sea, and the sky are but the ends of the 
threads of the warp and woof of the Creator's 
inherent, eternal beauty. "Supreme beauty re- 
sides in God," and all earthly beauty is but "the 
fringe of the garment of God." "All earthly 
beauty, all nature, all art, all poetry, all music 
are but phantoms and parables, hints and hopes, 
dim reflected rays of the clear light of the Su- 
preme Beauty." The infinite perfections of God 



38 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

constitute an unending state of infinite Beauty 
in His Person and character, 

"What delights us in visible beauty is the 
invisible." Thoughts and emotions and ideals, 
find expression in forms and movements and 
colors. Through the things that we see are re- 
vealed the unseen laws and forces that move 
and control all material things. Through and 
around and above all created beauty, visible and 
invisible, move the eternal beautifiers, Life, 
Light, and Love, ever directing us upward to 
the High and Holy One who dwells in "eternal 
Beauty, unbegotten and imperishable." 

"O if so much beauty doth reveal 
Itself in every vein of life and nature, 
How beautiful must be the source Itself, 
The ever Bright One." 

"God cometh from Teman, 
And the Holy One from Mount Paran, 
His glory covereth the heavens, 
And the earth is full of His praise; 
And His brightness is as the light." 

But when we look through all the splendor of 
the universe up to its Source in the Word of 
God, "The Fountain of all loveliness," we bow 
our heads in silent wonder and adoration. "To 
attain the height and depth of His eternal ways 
all human thoughts come short." We can only 
exclaim like the prophet of old, "How great is 
His Beauty!" or worship with Charles Kingsley, 
who, when his last breath was passing and his 
eyes were opening on unseen beauties, faintly 
whispered, "Hoiv beautiful God is." 



LIFE ETERNAL 



This is the record, that God hath given us 
Eternal Life, and this Life is in His Sen. 

—1 John 5:11 



Life is before you — not earthly life alone, but 
life — a thread running without end through the 
warp of eternity. 

—J. G. Holland. 



This is Eternal Life; a life of everlasting love, 
showing itself in everlasting good works; and 
whosoever lives this life, he lives the Life of God 
and has Eternal Life. 

— Charles Kingsley. 



The highest and dearest concerns of a temporal 
life are infinitely less valuable than those of an 
eternal life. 

— South. 



II 

"LIFE ETERNAL" 

Science rests upon the assumption that there 
are but two things, namely, matter and energy 
in the universe. Of the truth of this assump- 
tion one of its staunchest advocates expresses 
very decided doubt. "It seems to me," says Pro- 
fessor Huxley, "pretty plain that there is a third 
thing in the universe, to wit, consciousness, which 
in the hardness of my head and heart, I cannot 
see to be matter or force, or any modification 
of either, however intimately the manifestations 
of the phenomena of consciousness may be con- 
nected with the phenomena known as matter and 
force." 

Life also is beginning to be considered by 
master scientists as something apart from and 
above matter and force. This view of the hoary 
question, "What is Life?" has been recently well 
stated by Sir Oliver Lodge. "Life may be some- 
thing," he says, "not only ultra-terrestrial, but 
even immaterial; something out-side our present 
categories of matter and energy; as real as they 
are, but different, and utilizing them for its own 
purpose. What is certain is that life possesses 
the power of vitalizing the complex material ag- 
gregates which exists on this planet, of utilizing 
their energies for a time to display itself amid 
terrestrial surroundings; and then it seems to 



42 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

disappear or evaporate whence it came. It is 
perpetually arriving and perpetually disappear- 
ing. While it is here the animated material 
body moves about and strives after many ob- 
jects, some worthy and some unworthy; it ac- 
quires thereby a certain individuality, a certain 
character. It realizes itself, moreover, becoming 
conscious of its own mental and spiritual exist- 
ence, and it begins to explore the Mind which, 
like its own, it conceives must underlie the ma- 
terial fabric — half displayed, half concealed, by 
the environment, and intelligible only to a kin- 
dred spirit. Thus the scheme of law and order 
dimly dawns upon the nascent soul, and it begins 
to form clear conceptions of truth, goodness and 
beauty; it may achieve something of a perma- 
nent value, as a work of art, or of literature; it 
may enter the regions of emotion and may evolve 
ideas of the loftiest kind; it may degrade itself 
below the beasts, or it may soar till it is almost 
divine. 

"Is it the material molecular aggregate that 
has of its own unaided latent power generated 
this individuality, acquired this character, felt 
these emotions, evolved these ideas? There are 
some who try to think it is. There are other? 
who recognize in this extraordinary development 
a contact between this material frame of things 
and a universe higher, and other than anything 
known to our senses ; a universe not dominated 
by Physics and Chemistry, but utilizing the in- 
teractions of matter for its own purposes; a uni- 
verse where the human spirit is more at home 



LIFE ETERNAL 43 

than it is among these temporary collocations of 
atoms ; a universe capable of infinite development, 
of noble contemplation, and of lofty joy, long 
after this planet — nay the whole solar sys- 
tem — shall have fulfilled its sphere of destiny and 
retired cold and lifeless upon its endless way." 
Tennyson, in his address to a little flower grow- 
ing out of a crevice in the crannied wall, re- 
cognizes the mystery of life and indicates its 
nature and Source: 

"Flower in the crannied wall! 
I pluck you out of the crannies, 
Hold you here root and all in my hand, 
Little flower; but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 

Professor Tyndall, conscious of something more 
in the living world than his philosophy taught 
him, surmised that "there may be a vast unfath- 
omable life," flowing like ether through the whole 
realm of nature; so that 

"From the high host of stars to the lulled lake and 

mountain coast, 
All is concentered in a life intense, 
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, 
But hath a part of being, and a sense 
Of Him who is of all Creator and Defence." 

Though life animates every cell in the struc- 
ture of the body and meets the eye at every turn 
we make, we know not what life is; neither do 
we know what matter and force are, nor can we 
apprehend the nature of consciousness. We only 
know the qualities of matter and life and that 



44 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

consciousness is something wherein the phenom- 
ena of matter and force and the activities of the 
mind and the heart are revealed. Whatever is 
thus revealed, under normal conditions, we ac- 
cept as real, and worthy of consideration. 

The phenomena of matter and life, and the in- 
fluences of our beloved fellow-minds are mani- 
fested in consciousness and every moment we 
practically show our faith in their verity. Now 
if we accept the things of which science is cog- 
nizant as they are revealed in consciousness, are 
not those that are beyond the grasp of science 
and yet come within the conscious mind, to be 
equally accepted as true? Mind acts upon mind 
through the eye, through language and litera- 
ture ; and if it can act through these media, why 
not through others, or even by direct influence? 
And, further, may not God, the Eternal Spirit, 
manifest, not His essential Self, but His power, 
His grace, His love in the consciousness of man? 
To deny this power would be limiting the limit- 
less One, and making the Eternal Father infer- 
ior to His dependent children. 

Moreover, when the self-conscious mind once 
apprehends the idea of primary and continuous 
causes in a personal God, it recognizes infinite 
power and infinite wisdom above the forces of 
nature, and the loving Creator, in His works, 
becomes manifested in our consciousness. Once 
after watching the opening of a flower, Linnaeus 
said, "I saw God passing near me." The works 
of nature becoming in this way a revelation of 
God, there seems to be no reason why He may 



LIFE ETERNAL 45 

not in human language make known His will 
and attributes to man, and bring them clearly 
within the circle of human experience. He who 
made language and gave the power of utterance, 
shall He not speak? If so, the things revealed 
in the Book we call The Word of God, when 
brought within the field of consciousness, ought 
to be accepted with as much confidence of their 
truth as are those of nature when thus appre- 
hended. 

Of life, which takes non-living materials and 
transforms them into living matter, we are joy- 
ously, and sometimes painfully, conscious. We 
know that we live, not because we can prove that 
we do, but because it is a matter of unbroken 
consciousness. Should a higher life come within 
the circle of our personal consciousness, we would 
also know from conscious experience that we were 
living this new life, and the evidence of it would 
be of the same kind as that of the reality of 
the natural life, or of any other fact that "ex- 
perimental seal doth warrant." 

The concession, therefore, of Professor Tyn- 
dall, who seems to have been blessed with an 
insight not born of his philosophy, was correct 
when he said, "Religious feeling is as much a 
verity as any other part of human consciousness 
and against it, on the subjective side, the waves of 
science beat in vain." Now, if "the subjective 
side" of human consciousness presents an im- 
pregnable rock "to the waves of science," then 
also does the objective side, for "consciousness, 
so far from revealing only our own existence, 



46 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and leaving us to gather all other existences by 
inference from this, cannot give us the percip- 
ient self, except in simultaneously giving the per- 
ceived other than self." Against the religious 
feeling, then, as a verity in consciousness, the 
waves of science, objectively as well as subjec- 
tively, beat in vain. 

"Religion," says Matthew Arnold, "is morality 
touched by motion.'' This beautiful definition, 
framed doubtless after a careful analysis of the 
various forms of religion in the world, includes 
only the husk of religion. So far as religion is 
seen in the daily life of many of its votaries it 
might be as correctly defined immorality touched 
by emotion. The definition is theoretical and is 
the result of an observation of the external facts 
of religion. It leaves out the essential part, the 
hidden power, without which religion presents 
only empty forms, beautiful or grotesque, ac- 
cording to the taste of the devotee. The Chris- 
tian religion, as revealed in the New Testament, 
and as possessed by the true disciple, is morality 
touched by emotion, and much more. It is mo- 
rality touched with Life. Rather, it is Life it- 
self producing pure morality and joyous emotion. 

Life eternal, or Christian life, is not a renewed 
nor an elevated form of the life that is common 
to living orgaisms, including man, but a totally 
new life. Of men Jesus said, "I am come that 
they might have life." To the Jews He said, 
"Ye will not come unto me that ye might have 
life." Now these men had life. They were in- 
tensely alive to their national, moral, and relig- 



LIFE ETERNAL 47 

ious affairs, yet Jesus talked to them as non-liv- 
ing men. He, the Eternal Word, had come among 
them, but they received Him not. To Him they 
were dead. Their selfish, sin-veiled hearts had 
no correspondence with the light of life that 
was in Him, nor with the love that had moved 
Him to come into the world. They loved dark- 
ness rather than light. 

The life, therefore, which Jesus came into the 
world to give men is a new life, a spiritual life, 
a life to men of natural birth unknown. If ask- 
ed what this higher life is, how or whence it 
comes, the questions may be answered by asking 
in reply, what is natural life? Whence does it 
come? Whither does it go? How does it evolve 
dead matter into living forms? "The wind blow- 
eth where it will, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and 
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit." There is a natural life, and there 
is a spiritual life, each being distinct, in kind, 
from the other. "That which is born of the flesh 
is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit." Like everywhere produces like. 

Men, "born of blood, and of the will of the 
flesh, and of the will of man," come not into 
the world of their own will. They are not con- 
sulted in regard to their birth into the world, 
but come into being without the power of assent 
or dissent, bearing the marks, good or bad, of 
their ancestors, inheriting thus defects and dis- 
eases, moral and physical, that may possibly en- 
tail life-long suffering. Not so is it in the re- 



48 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

generation, or birth into the kingdom of heaven. 
In this new birth man's will is consulted. Men 
have the right to choose or refuse birth into eter- 
nal life. They have the privilege of receiving or 
rejecting the Prince of life. "But to as many 
as receive Him, to them gives He power to be- 
come the children of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on His name." To those who accept Christ, 
God gives the power to enter by a new birth into 
a new life — a life in which there is no heredi- 
tary weakness, no defective environment, and 
consequently no tendency to death. They are 
still subject, while their earthly life continues, 
to the conditions of the old life, but while they 
abide in Christ and overcome the world, the new 
life deepens and enlarges and death will have no 
power over them in their exit from the earth. 

The more deeply we look into life the deeper 
is our conviction that the life we are now living 
is not all of life. It is an unfinished symphony. 
A day may round out an insect's life, and a beast 
or a bird needs no tomorrow. Not so with him 
who is related to God by a new birth and feels 
"the power of an endless life." 

Giving "power to become" is among men im- 
possible. Man has power to take the materials 
furnished by nature and make them into what- 
ever design he may choose, but he has no power 
to cause them to become either a thing of beauty 
or of utility. He can form marble into a statue, 
but he cannot cause it to become one. To give 
"power to become" is the prerogative of God. 
Great then is the privilege accorded to man, a 



LIFE ETERNAL 49 

child of time and place, of becoming a child of 
eternity. Of necessity he comes into natural life 
without choice, but, as a compensation for this, 
he has a right to choose or reject birth into life 
eternal, and power to become a spiritual child 
of the Eternal Father, and co-heir with Christ 
Jesus of all things. Those, therefore, who reject 
the v/ord of life and refuse to accept power to 
become the children of light, but choose rather 
to retain the power of remaining the children of 
this world, have no cause of complaint if their 
choice works out disastrously. Life eternal is 
offered to all on the same simple terms, namely, 
accepting Christ as the only Savior from sin and 
the only Prince of life. 

Although man has power to become a scholar, 
a philosopher, or an artist he has no power nat- 
urally to become a Christian indeed, for this in- 
volves the power which belongs alone to God, 
of giving life to the dead. 

After Adam's disobedience he hid himself — 
became dead to God. He lost the light of the 
higher life, lost his correspondence with his spir- 
itual environment. From that sad hour to the 
present, most men have been dead while they 
live, "dead through trespasses and sins." Even 
when they would do good evil is present with 
them. They have no power to bring back the lost 
life nor to raise themselves into its exalted con- 
ditions. To give men power to regain the higher 
life, and enable them to live a life of righteous- 
ness, Jesus Christ came into the world. In Him 
is life. He who receives Him regains eternal 



50 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

life and obtains power to walk in newness of 
life. He 4s lifted up, out of the pit of sin, 
his feet placed upon the Rock of Ages, and a 
new song put into his mouth, even praise to God. 
He is not henceforth bound down by the "law of 
sin and death," but lives upon the table land of 
purity and righteousness, and abides with Chrisi 
in "heavenly places." The pleasures of sin, in 
which he once reveled, have for him lost their 
charms. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus has made him free from the law of sin and 
death," so that he no longer walks after the flesh 
but after the spirit. This higher life controls 
the lower life, restraining the appetites and the 
passions and holding them within their legiti- 
mate sphere. The morbid outgrowths of the 
natural man are eliminated, and all the faculties 
of mind and heart work in harmony with the 
law of the Spirit of life. He loves truth, whether 
found in the works of God, in the history of man, 
or in the Written Word of God; for the Spirit 
of life that inspires his soul is the same Spirit 
that, brooding over the waters in the "begin- 
ning," brought form and beauty out of that which 
was "formless and void," and in the days of old 
moved the prophets in whom God spoke to the 
fathers in divers portions and in divers manners. 
He delights in all that God has made. Whether 
scanning the beauties of the landscape, or moved 
with awe where the mountain "majestic stands;" 
whether entranced in the midnight glory of the 
sky, or watching the mystic forces of nature, his 
heart leaps up when he hears in them the word 



LIFE ETERNAL 51 

of the Creator which called them into being and 
still vibrates through every atom of the inanimate 
world and every cell of the living world. For him 
the Works of Nature form the complement to the 
Word of Revelation, in which he finds special joy 
and delight, because in this Word is revealed, not 
only, as in Nature, the power and wisdom of God, 
but also His holiness, His goodness, His mercy, 
His love. Every blessing that Nature, unpervert- 
ed, can supply and every joy and comfort that 
the Bible offers may enter into the making of 
his life. 

Though the higher life does not prevent those 
who are its happy possessors from making mis- 
takes, it keeps them from committing sins. 
"Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not" while 
he abides in Christ. Neither does it ward off 
the ills nor change the conditions of the earthly 
life, but enables us to endure them with submis- 
sion and bear them with patience. We may 
often "be sorrowful yet always rejoicing." The 
storms may sweep over the sea of life and the bil- 
lows may roll, but underneath them will continue 
the undisturbed flow of peace and blessedness. 

Our natural life is ever in danger, from many 
sources, of being thrown out of "continuous ad- 
justment" with its "external relations," and of 
being thus suddenly or gradually cut off in its 
course, but the life eternal, which is a life of 
love, cannot while we abide in God be affected 
injuriously by any created thing. "Neither death, 
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor 



52 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

height, nor depth, nor any other creation shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." "As the Father 
hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son 
to have life in Himself." While therefore, we 
abide in the Son we abide in Life. 

Let us test in our faith and experience the 
word and the life of Christ Jesus our Lord. Let 
us permit Him to plant a germ of His life in our 
hearts and let us co-work with Him in nourish- 
ing its growth and development until soul and 
spirit become illumined with the light of His life. 
Then we shall prove for ourselves that there is 
life in Jesus Christ and that He is our life. The 
world is planting pieces of the hull instead of 
the germ in which the life dwells and is expect- 
ing to get spiritual germination and growth. But 
Eternal Life is not to be attained by merely cul- 
tivating moral precepts and intellectual energy. 
These are splendid equipments and accompany 
the true life, but they are not the life. The Life 
Eternal is in the only begotten Son of God. Out 
of His inexhaustible life He breathes life into 
every one who receives Him. 



THE WAY TO LIFE 



Narrow is the Gate, and straight the Way that 
leadeth unto Life, and few are they who find it. 
— Matthew 7:14. 



I am the Way, and the truth, and the Life. 
— Jesus of Nazareth. 



The Regeneration of a sinner is an evidence of 
power in the highest sphere — moral nature; with 
the highest prerogrative — to change nature; and 
operating to the highest result — not to create 
originally, which is great; but to create anew 
which is greater. 

— William Arthur. 



friend, we never cnoose the better part, 
Until we set the Cross up in the heart: 

1 know I cannot live until I die — 

Till I am nailed upon it wild and high, 

And sleep within the tomb full three days dead, 

With angels at the foot and at the head. 

But then in a great brightness 1 shall rise, 

And walk with stiller feet below the skies. 

— Edwin Markham. 



Ill 

"THE WAY TO LIFE" 

When the Herald of the coming King came 
preaching in the wilderness of Judea he cried, 
"Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand." To the people, greatly wondering in Sol- 
omon's porch, Peter preached, "Repent ye, there- 
fore, and be converted that your sins may be blot- 
ted out, when the times of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord." In the conver- 
sation with Nicodemus, Jesus said, "Except a man 
be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of 
God." The word in the New Testatment trans- 
lated repent means, change your thinking. The 
word converted, means in the original, to turn 
upon, to turn back. The term, born again, would 
be better as well as more literally rendered born 
from above, for in this birth the children are 
not born "of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God." 

In these three utterances the entrance into the 
"Way of Life" is clearly opened. We must change 
our thinking, forsake our evil thoughts, "repent," 
reverse the direction we are going, change our 
way of doing, "be converted ;" accept Jesus, God's 
Anointed, believe on His name, and "receive pow- 
er to become the children of God." No other way 
to life can any man open, and no light can il- 



56 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

lumine the way but that of Him in whom is life, 
"the life which is the light of men." 

No question more vital ever issued from the 
human heart than the cry, "What must I do to 
be saved?" The answer, "Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," is not 
only clear and precise, but full and complete, for 
in it is infolded the whole plan of salvation. 

The first thing implied in it is repentance to- 
ward God. Now, there are two kinds of repent- 
ance spoken of in the Scriptures — one accompan- 
ied with sorrow toward God, or Godly sorrow; 
and the other with sorrow toward self more than 
toward God, or worldly sorrow. To make clear 
this part of our subject let us take a case that 
can at any time be found in real life. A man 
becomes convinced of the error of his ways. His 
thoughts are turned upon the life that he has 
been living, and he finds that it will, if contin- 
ued, bring him into trouble and end in disaster. 
He regrets his past course, is sorry on account 
of his sins, and desires to become reconciled to 
God and lead a better life. His sincerity is un- 
undoubted and he resolves to quit his sinning, to 
reform, and forwith turns his resolution into ac- 
tion. Henceforth his outer life is upright and 
straight-forward, and in the sight of men may 
be blameless, but if he rises no higher than this 
plane of living, he will only become a good mor- 
alist, or a self-righteous Pharisee. He only reach- 
es reformation, not regeneration. This is repent- 
ance that needs itself to be repented of — a repent- 



THE WAY TO LIFE 57 

ance "from dead works" leading to dead works. 
Repentance toward God is a deeper process and 
leads to the higher life. The true penitent turns 
with Godly sorrow from his sins, changes, through 
the Spirit of all grace, his inmost thoughts and 
purposes, ceases to do evil and learns to do well 
in thought as well as in deed. The cry of his 
heart is, "God be merciful to me a sinner." This 
is "repentance unto life — repentance unto salva- 
tion not to be repented of." It does not end in 
reformation, but in regeneration — the birth into 
the spiritual life. The heart yields in true peni- 
tence, the will bows to God's will, and the soul 
receives life, which God alone has power to give, 
and which He can grant, only on the condition 
of a voluntary return to Him, through Jesus 
Christ. 

Repentance — changing our thoughts, and con- 
version — reversing our ways, under the convict- 
ing power of the Holy Spirit, with accompaning 
faith in Christ, are the conditions of entering 
into life required of us, and when these are 
met, our sins are blotted out, the times of re- 
freshing come from the presence of the Lord, 
and we henceforth walk in newness of life. 

Life is power, and being born from above im 
plies spiritual growth, development, maturity. 
God, in giving us this new life, gives us a new 
heart, renews the filial spirit within us, which 
enables us to look up and cry, "Father;" and 
"the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our 
spirit that we are the children of God." 



58 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

The question here rises how we can each best 
develop this new life received in the birth from 
above. We have only to "ask for the old paths 
wherein is the good way and walk therein." The 
rules for its culture are already laid down for 
us. The Christian law of love, purity and holi- 
ness is the way and there is no other — plain, 
simple living, the conscientious culture of every 
power in us and of every good habit, daily com 
munion with our Father in the Heavens, asso- 
ciation with the pure in heart, the giving up ever 
of the lower for the higher. Traveling along this 
road, we realize as the years go on, a sense of 
perpetual enlargement of life. The surface upon 
which the Divine Breath plays, is steadily broad- 
ening. The retina of the heart becomes more 
sensitive to the light that falls on it from "the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And 
ever, as we progress, we know that all we have 
is not a self-creation, but rather a gift received 
from God. The words of Madame Guy on fit our 
enlarging experience : 

"I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine, 
For in Thy Life I live. 
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be 

Emptied and lost and swallowed up in Thee." 

Having entered into the new life, let us culti- 
vate its growth and maturity by sowing Spiritual 
seed, and we shall bear, as the seasons move on, 
"the fruit of the Eternal Spirit — love, joy, peace, 
long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 
meekness, self-control." "Sow the seeds of life, — 



THE WAY TO LIFE 59 

humbleness, pure-heartedness, love," says F. W. 
Robertson, "and in the long eternity which lies 
before the soul, every minutest grain will come 
up again with an increase of thirty, sixty, or a 
hundredfold. 

"You will reap what you sow — not something 
else, but that. An act of love makes the soul 
more loving. A deed of humbleness deepens 
humbleness. The thing reaped is the very thing 
sown, multiplied a hundredfold. You have sown 
a seed of life, you reap life everlasting." 

If we would maintain our life in ever-increas- 
ing vigor, we must also pray as well as work. 
Prayer and work cannot be divorced. What God 
hath joined together let no man presume to put 
asunder. "Above everything," says Phillips 
Brooks, "pray for and work for fullness of life; 
full red blood in the body ; full honesty and truth 
in the mind; and the fullness of a grateful love 
for the Savior in your heart." 

Jesus insisted upon holiness of life as the only 
proof of the new birth, and upon the new birth 
as the only entrance to a holy life. He did this, 
not to make men despair of salvation, but to lead 
them to come to Him in order to find rest for 
their souls. "In His presence death itself de- 
parted, and life came in; and when He breathed 
forth His Spirit, then did He pour out life from 
Himself and infuse it into others." 

God gives life. We receive it. In receiving it 
we obtain "power to become the children of God" 
— members of His Spiritual family. "To possess 



60 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

power is much; to have the prerogative of giving 
it is more ; but to give 'power to become' is among 
men unknown ; for it involves the power of giving 
life to the dead. Holy Scripture, in speaking 
of Christ's work upon Nature, employs no such 
terms. Its language is, 'All things were made 
by Him.' To make a thing is different from 
'giving it power to become.' We can make iron 
into an engine, but we cannot give it power to 
become one. Only where life exists is there pow- 
er to become, and where life does not exist, the 
prerogative of giving it belongs to none save the 
Prince of Life only." 

The lifeless mote cannot become anything more 
than a lifeless mote, but the living seed has power 
to become, under proper conditions, a growing 
plant, and the living child has power to become 
a man. Only that in which this mysterious liv- 
ing power has been deposited by Him who is the 
Fountain of life can become a living, growing, 
developing being. Even if the life-substance has 
been once possessed, but has through some ad- 
verse influence been lost, that which contained 
it has no longer "power to become." The seed 
may be perfect in its most minute structure, 
but if the hidden life has departed, though the 
rich soil may bless it, the gentle rain water it, 
and the solar rays warm it, that seed has no pow- 
er to become a plant. So he who is "dead through 
trespasses and sin," though he may reform and 
strive to elevate himself into a new life, and even 
receive the blessing of the church, has no power 
to become a living, spiritual child of God. 



THE WAY TO LIFE 61 

Life as manifested in the plant and the animal 
is very wonderful — the wonder of wonders — yet it 
is everywhere evanescent. It is continually com- 
ing and going, appearing and vanishing. The 
life that animates the regenerated soul and en- 
dows it with never-failing energy, is unchange- 
able and eternal. It is the life of God that comes 
into our experience with the true knowledge of 
God — a knowledge obtained through the vision 
of the heart rather than through intellectual 
effort. In the prayer to the Father just before 
entering the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said, 
"This is life eternal that they may know Thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
hast sent." God is Life; God is Light; God is 
Love. To have the life of God in the soul, to 
walk in the light as He is in the light, and to be 
one with Him in everlasting love, is to know God 
— is to have eternal life. Knowing God and eter- 
nal life are, therefore, the same and co-eternal. 
Eternal life is eternal knowledge; they are one. 
Life eternal, then, is not merely everlasting life — 
a state of perpetual existence. It is this and 
much more. It is a state of unending activity 
and energy, of growing knowledge and blessed- 
ness, of joyous service and worship. The soul 
evermore drinks at the Fountain-head of the 
River of Life, moves in the light as God is in the 
light, rejoices in His love, and "beholds the 
Beauty of the Lord." 

In the Kingdom of God doctrines are forceful 
and forms are beautiful only in so far as they 



62 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

become vitalized by the spirit of a renewed mind. 
Doctrine to him who is born from above, who has 
passed "out of death into life, out of darkness 
into light," is not a dead letter, but a law of the 
Spirit of life. Christianity is not merely a sys- 
tem of doctrine. It is a spiritual force, and the 
centre, the pith, the transforming, assimilating 
power of true religion is life. It is this power 
that enables us to become children of God, to 
grow up into perfect manhood in Christ Jesus, 
and to develop and mature the fruit of the Spirit. 
God puts into the seed life, which, when the con- 
ditions of soil and moisture, warmth and light 
are supplied, means power to become a plant — 
power to evolve stem and branch, bud and leaf, 
flower and fruit. It is life, by its inaudible, 
invisible, intangible energy, that moulds into 
forms of beauty and elegance all living things. 
In our natural life, God gives the life and He 
also supplies the conditions — air, light, warmth, 
food and water — for the evolution and energy of 
life. The elegance and perfection of the living 
body, in its development and in its maturity, 
depend upon the efficiency with which the con- 
ditions are met. Just here comes in our requir- 
ed work. We cannot originate life, nor cause 
it to develop an organism different in kind from 
that which is potential in the germ; nor can we 
create the conditions of the growth and nutrition 
of the organism, but we can modify and adjust 
the conditions so as to affect the growth and nu- 
trition, and cause the living individual to become 



THE WAY TO LIFE 63 

sickly and stunted, or well developed and perfect. 
If we would secure a vigorous and well rounded 
life, we must look well to the quality and quan- 
tity of the conditions. We are in nature co- 
workers with God. 

In the regeneration God also gives the life, 
and He likewise supplies the conditions. "Who- 
soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born 
of God" — has in his soul a germ of the life that 
the Father hath in Himself. This is a higher 
life than that which fashions the body, and the 
conditions of its growth and development are of 
a higher order. Those of the lower life are cre- 
ated and temporal, but the conditions of the hign- 
er life are uncreated and eternal. "He that hath 
the Son hath the life." "I am," said Jesus, "the 
bread of life." God is the "Fountain of living 
waters." To the woman at the well Jesus said, 
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst, but the water that 1 
shall give him shall become in him a well of 
water springing up into eternal life." The out- 
shining of the life of the Eternal Word is the 
light of him who is born into the Kingdom 01 
God. Warmth is another condition of life, ana 
this is found in the unchangable love of the 
Father, while the Eternal Spirit is the christian's 
vital breath, for "he lives in the Spirit and walks 
in the Spirit." Here we have a spiritual, a Di- 
vine environment, and the conditions of life in it 
can never fail; hence life will be maintained in 
eternal vigor and maturity. 



64 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

In the spiritual life we are also co-workers 
with God. Our thoughts, our words, our pur- 
poses, our works must all move in accord with 
the will and word of God. We must feed by 
faith on the Bread of life and drink at the Foun- 
tain of living waters. We must walk in the light 
of the Lord, abide in His love, and live in the 
Spirit. He who is the conscious, happy possessor 
of this life, and keeps his heart in correspondence 
with its unchanging conditions, will grow and 
develop into complete manhood in Christ Jesus 
and, surviving the wreck of physical death, will 
live on in eternal activity and blessedness. At 
the grave of Lazarus Jesus said, "I am the resur- 
rection and the life, he that believeth on Me, 
though he die, yet shall he live ; and whosoever 
liveth and believeth on Me shall never die." 



''SAVED BY HIS LIFE" 



Because I live ye shall live also. 

— John 14:19. 



He that hath the Son hath the life; he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not the life. 

— 1 John 5:12. 



I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

"Behold I freely give 
The Living water; thirsty one, 

Stoop down and drink, and live!" 
I came to Jesus, and I drank, 

Of that Life-giving stream; 
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 

And now I live in Him. 

— Horatius Bonar. 



No glory of the Eternal One is higher than this, 
"Mighty to save;" no name of God is more ador- 
able than that of "Savior." 

— William Arthur. 



Unless you live in Christ, you are dead to God. 
— Rowland Hill. 



IV 

"SAVED BY HIS LIFE" 

In an English translation of the oldest hymn 
to Christ in the possession of the Church are 
found these exquisitely tender and deeply pro- 
found words: 

"With Thy life, so sweet and tender, 
Save Thy saints, O Christ, we crave." 

The death of Christ made our salvation possi- 
ble. He thereby met the demand of the great 
sacrificial law, "Without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission." By shedding His pre- 
cious blood in Gethsemane and upon the Cross, 
He made it possible that "we might become re- 
conciled to God," and that "God might be just 
and yet the Justifier of him that believeth in 
Jesus." Christ Jesus was delivered up for our 
trespasses and raised from the dead for our 
justification, and because He lives we who be- 
lieve on Him live also. So teaches St. Paul, the 
great expositor of Christian doctrine and life. 
"If while we were enemies," he says, "we were 
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much 
more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His 
life;" or as it was written by the apostle in 
Greek, "Saved in His life." 

But does not the beloved disciple say that the 
blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin? Does not 



68 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the blood then save? Yes, but in ancient, orien- 
tal language, "the blood is the life." In our way 
of putting ideas into words we would say that 
the blood represents the life. The blood of Jesus 
is not literally sprinkled upon the impure heart, 
thereby "cleansing the conscience from dead 
works to serve the living God," but His life, rep- 
resented by the blood, is infused into the soul in 
the new birth, and thus regenerates, vitalizes 
and purifies the entire individual, spirit, soul, and 
body. 

"We have all sinned and come short of the 
glory of God." We have 

"Sprung from the man whose guilty fall 
Corrupts his race and taints us all." 

It is only necessary to observe the e very-day 
life of the little child, as well as that of the adult, 
to be convinced of the tendency in us to go astray. 
We are naturally self-willed, and restive under 
the restraint of law and order. We endeavor to 
follow our own impulses and to gratify our appe- 
tites and passions, right or wrong; and they are 
more apt to be wrong than right. We turn our 
faces toward the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
and our backs toward heaven, and purity, and 
God. Notwithstanding the moral restraints 
thrown around us and the Christian teaching and 
culture of exemplary parents, we go astray from 
childhood to manhood, and even to old age, fol- 
lowing right along the devices and desires of our 
own hearts, and thus sooner or later becoming 
dead through trespasses and sin. We become 



SAVED BY HIS LIFE 69 

dead to God and walk in the darkness of sin and 
death rather than in the light of life. We seek 
happiness in the deceptive offers of time and 
place, forsaking our Creator and Benefactor, the 
Fountain of living waters, and hewing out for 
ourselves cisterns whose waters become stale and 
bitter. 

From this state of spiritual death we have no 
power to resurrect ourselves. Life is an entity — 
a something over which we have no power except 
to supply or modify the conditions of its growth 
and maintenance. We may by mere force of op- 
tion, reform and live a moral life, but in order to 
be saved from our sins and lead a new life, fol- 
lowing in our hearts as well as in our lives the 
commandments, the life that is in Jesus, the 
Christ, must reach down and touch our life, be- 
getting in the soul a new life and lifting us up 
into higher conditions of living. -We are thus 
born from above — born of the Spirit, the Spirit 
of Christ. The soul in this new birth becomes 
alive to God, rejoices in the light of His counte- 
nance, loves what God loves and hates what God 
hates, and lives a new, spiritual life, old thoughts 
and purposes having passed away, while new 
aspirations, new joys and new hopes have sprung 
up in their place. Thus we are "saved by His 
life." As the sap in the vine flows through the 
branches, causing them to put forth buds and 
leaves, and produce blossoms and fruits, so the 
life of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is ever 
permeating and renewing the lives of the children 



70 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

of light, producing peace, joy, love and all the 
fruits of righteousness. In His life we live and 
move and have our being. 

Now, life is essentially active. In all living 
forms, from the lowest to the highest, this qual- 
ity is one of the characteristics of life. It is ever 
evolving, or renewing and perfecting the organ- 
isms that it vitalizes. Thus growth is one of the 
effects of life, and this process may go on indefi- 
nitely, or may be time-limited. Many plants 
complete their growth in one season and die; 
while others live and grow for untold centuries. 
All animals, including man, reach their maximum 
growth within specifically limited periods, but 
in the case of man life continues, under favorable 
conditions, to become more vigorous and the mind 
to develop in force and capacity for many a year 
after the body ceases to grow. Dr. Lionel Beale 
found that the little round cells, through which 
the mind is supposed to act in the surface of the 
brain, apparently do not grow old but remain 
fresh and young even during old age. In this 
fact may lie the cause of the continued evolution 
of mental and moral power while the body is be- 
coming more and more enfeebled with age. If, 
therefore, like these little round cells in the cortex 
of the brain, all the physical conditions of the 
body were favorable and failed not, life might 
persist in the individual, increasing in power and 
beauty for ever. 

In plants and animals, however, the inner con- 
ditions of life fail, sooner or later, and the exter- 



SAVED BY HIS LIFE 71 

nal conditions are unfavorable, so that life is 
everywhere evanescent. It is consequently ever 
coming and going, appearing and disappearing. 
The life that transforms those who receive the 
Prince of Life, into the sons of God fails not, and 
its conditions are favorable and unchangeable. 
He who possesses this life therefore, will grow in 
grace and in spiritual power so long as he com- 
plies with the conditions of spiritual growth. 
These are prayer or communion with God, par- 
taking of the bread of life and drinking the living 
water, walking in the light of the Lord, living in 
the Spirit, and abiding in God's love. 

Here are presented possibilities incalculable. 
The conditions of growth are not only favorable 
but they cannot fail, for they are unchangeable 
and eternal. Even in this life, with so many 
conditions adverse to spiritual growth, the chil- 
dren of light receive power, not only to become 
the sons of God, but also to grow into spiritual 
maturity, for "the law of the Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus hath made them free from the law of 
sin and death," and they "work not for the meat 
that perisheth but for the meat that abideth unto 
eternal life." This spiritual meat unceasingly 
supplies the needs of the soul and perfectly sus- 
tains and renews the inner life ; hence, even while 
the evening of life is approaching and the 
shadows are lengthening, and though the out- 
ward man is daily perishing the inner man is 
renewed day by day, and they grow in the knowl- 
edge and love of God even to the end of their 
earthly pilgrimage. Sometimes in the faithful 



72 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and saintly disciple this renewing of the spiritual 
life becomes very marked, while the natural life 
is failing and flickering in its last feeble throes. 
Wilbur Fisk, who during all his mature life walk- 
ed with God, said, when the time for his depart- 
ure came, though extremely weak, that he felt al- 
most strong enough to bear away his frail, dying 
body through the air. 

To the spiritually born sons of God the 
life eternal is not a life to be attained in 
the distant future nor by some mysterious 
process at death. It is a present possession, 
a conscious experience that in the eternal future 
shall stronger and fuller grow. "I feel in my- 
self," says Victor Hugo, "the future life. I am 
like a forest once cut down. The new shoots are 
stronger and livelier than ever. I am rising, I 
know, toward the sky. The sunshine is on my 
head. The earth gives me its generous sap, but 
heaven lights me with the reflection of unknown 
worlds. You say that the soul is nothing but 
the resultant of bodily powers. Why then is my 
soul more luminous when my body begins to fail ? 
Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my 
heart. There I breathe at this hour the fra- 
grance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses, an 
at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end, 
the plainer I hear around me the immortal sym- 
phonies of the worlds which invite me. It is 
marvelous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and it is 
history. For half a century I have been writing 
my thoughts in prose and verse, history, phi- 
losophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, 



SAVED BY HIS LIFE 73 

and song — I have tried them all. But I feel I 
have not said the thousandth part of what is in 
me. When I go down to the grave I can say like 
so many others, 'I have finished my day's work,' 
but I cannot say 'I have finished my life.' My 
day's work will begin again the next morning. 
The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thorough- 
fare. It closes on the twilight to open with the 
dawn." 

"He that hath the Son hath the life," says the 
Beloved disciple. "Whosoever liveth and be- 
lieveth on Me," said Jesus, "shall never die." He 
ends his earthly life and the tabernacle in which 
he sojourns here is taken down and laid away, 
but he has "a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." In his fare- 
well address to the apostles Jesus said, "In my 
Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not 
so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a 
place for you." To Peter He said, "whither 1 
go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt 
follow me afterward." To all He in substance 
said, "I your Lord and Master, the Maker and 
Builder of all things, without whom not anything 
was made, am going away to prepare for you 
abiding places, that where I am there ye may be 
also, and behold my glory." The conditions of 
life in that blessed abiding place are infinitely 
more favorable for growth and development than 
our present environment. But of those con- 
ditions it is useless for us even to conjecture; for 
since there are scenes in our own world that no 



74 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

description could make clear to our minds, it is 
evident that but little knowledge could be impart- 
ed to us concerning the unseen world which the 
children of life enter when their earthly life 
closes. Enough, however, has been revealed to 
assure us of the blessedness and glory of that 
"better country." St. Paul, to whom Jesus re- 
vealed the glorious gospel after His ascension, 
was sometimes disturbed by opposing emotions, 
having a desire to remain with his spiritual chil- 
dren for their good, and also a longing to depart 
and be with Christ, which was for him far better. 
There he expected to behold Jesus in His trans- 
figured, glorified body, and be with Him and with 
the good and great of all ages and countries who, 
having become reconciled to God by the death 
of His Son and saved by His life, have passed into 
the "Unseen Holy" and are "without fault before 
the Throne of God." 

The whole redeemed family of God, those who 
live in the mansions prepared in our Father's 
House as well as those who dwell on the earth, 
are patiently looking forward to the day of their 
final redemption, when the body, sown in weak- 
ness and corruption, shall through the life-giving 
power of Christ rise in strength and glory, and 
they with spirit, soul and body reunited and glori- 
fied, shall enter into the eternal inheritance that 
is incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth not. 
When the last living stones, taken out of earth's 
rough quarries, are shaped and prepared for 
their places in the living Temple of the Living 



SAVED BY HIS LIFE 75 

God, of which the temple of Solomon was only 
the rough type, then "the Lord Himself shall 
descend from Heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of 
God; the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we 
who are alive and remain shall be caught up to- 
gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air, and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord." 

The redeemed of the Lord, gathered out of 
every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation 
shall then shine forth in the Kingdom of their 
Father; for "when Christ who is their life shall 
be manifested then shall they also be manifested 
with Him in glory." The life of Jesus will so 
permeate their humanity that they shall never 
again feel the fatigue and weariness of earth, 
and they shall no more say, "I am sick." They 
shall be clothed with strength, and live in never- 
failing health and beauty. "We are sown in cor- 
ruption but we rise in power." There will be no 
alternation of work and rest, of vigor and weari- 
ness. We shall subsist in ever-full energy and 
enthusiasm. 

"Whereas in this life," says Schoberlein, "we 
consist of three elements, body, soul, and spirit, 
which may be even separated from each other; 
in the heavenly life the body and soul will be so 
pervaded with spirit that the entire human being 
will present but one unitary spiritual life. Wher- 
ever the soul may will to be, there it will be able 
to be. Hence the body will not be a prison, but 
on the contrary a free home for the soul. 



76 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

"The body will be the perfect servant of the 
soul ; hence it will be capable of instantly follow- 
ing, and keeping pace with the outgoings of im- 
agination and thought. The law of love, where- 
by we live in those on whom we fix our heart, 
will be perfectly reflected in the body. The in- 
dwelling of soul in soul will be also the indwell- 
ing of body in body. And in this each will find 
his due place — so that, even as the church of 
Christ here forms but one body with many mem- 
bers, thus also hereafter saved humanity will 
form but one organic body, of which we shall all 
be members, each in his place. And of this or- 
ganic body, the head, the focal point, the sun, 
will be Christ Himself. As our souls will eter- 
nally live of His life, so our bodies will eternally 
shine in the radiance of His glorified body." 

We shall then inherit the Kingdom prepared 
for us from the foundation of the world. We 
shall then see the Prince of life and glory as He 
is, and freed from all adverse conditions, grow 
more and more like Him in knowledge and beauty 
for evermore, without being able to reach up and 
out to the height and broadness of His fullness; 
for in Him centre all truth, and beauty, and good- 
ness ; in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge, and His transfiguring life, and 
light, and love pervade the universe. We shall 
forever live in the life, and light, and love of the 
Lord Jesus, and His life, and light, and love will 
evermore live in us. The Kingdom of Heaven — 
a kingdom without limit in space and without 



SAVED BY HIS LIFE 77 

end in time — will be our eternal inheritance and 
we shall reign with Christ in peace and glory; 
and so shall we through eternity as in time be 
''saved in His life." 

To make this eternal salvation possible and 
real Jesus Christ, God manifested in human form 
and flesh, laid down His life and took it up again. 
"The taking away of our sins," says Henry Van 
Dyke, "means the actual separation from sin by 
union with the crucified Christ. Our justifica- 
tion means a living entrance into His righteous- 
ness in the risen life. The mission of Christ to 
the inner life was just this: To make such an 
atonement that sin should no more divide the 
soul from God : To make such an atonement that 
the broken law should no more keep the soul at 
enmity with God: To make such an atonement 
that the inner life of all who truly live, should be 
'not unto themselves, but unto Him who died for 
them and rose again.' " 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 



The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; 
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 

— Proverbs 9:10. 



Some have not the knowledge of God. 

— 1 Corinthians 15:34. 



Let no knowledge satisfy but that which lifts 
above the world, which weans from the world, 
which makes the world a footstool. 

— C. H. Spurgeon. 



The question is whether like the Divine Child 
in the temple we are turning knowledge into wis- 
dom, and whether, understanding more of the 
mysteries of life, we are feeling more of its sacred 
law; and whether, having left behind the priests, 
the scribes, and the doctors and the fathers, we 
are becoming wise to God. 

— F. W. Robertson. 



Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and 
power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in 
enjoyment, perenniel in fame, unlimited in space, 
and infinite in duration. 

— De Witt Clinton. 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 

The surface of the brain, from an eighth to 
a twelfth of an inch in thickness, is composed of 
minute grayish cells of living matter. This thin 
stratum constitutes the "common sensorium" in 
which every faculty, emotion, and impulse of 
both body and mind has its special location, or 
centre, where it originates, or terminates, or is 
reflected, and where it awakens into conscious- 
ness. The eye, for example, receives on the ret- 
ina the image of an object, the impression of 
which is conveyed through the optic nerves to the 
special location of vision in the sensorium where 
it becomes an object of conscious perception. 
A wave of air produced by the concussion of 
sound causes a vibration in the auditory organs, 
the impression is telephoned to the special center 
of hearing and the perception of sound is there 
begotten. The same process is true of every 
sensation, special and general, of the body. 
When a thought, or an idea from the seen, or 
from the unseen world, comes into the mind, the 
impression is made on its special location in the 
brain, and, being there brought out into con- 
sciousness, is transmitted through the appropt'i- 
ate nerves to special organs, or parts of the body. 
The ideas or objects that beget the emotion of 
love, or those that produce the aspirations of 



82 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

hope, for instance, cause these feelings to spring 
up in the gray matter of the brain, from which 
they are conveyed by special nerves to the chest, 
and then referred to that locality, just as the 
sensation of touch, born into consciousness in 
the brain, is attributed to the ends of the fingers. 

Now, as every faculty, emotion, and impulse 
has its special center in the brain, the develop- 
ment of that special center will depend upon the 
use and culture of its particular faculty, emotion, 
or impulse. In examining the brain, post mor- 
tem, it has been found in those who had lost an 
arm, or a leg, the special parts of the brain to 
which the nerves of the lost members belonged, 
were partially atrophied. In animals, the mole 
for example, that have but little use for the eye 
the optic center is but slightly developed. 

We are accustomed to refer the tender emo- 
tions, love, mercy, and compassion, to the heart. 
The ancients referred them to the bowels, and 
spoke of "bowels of compassion." In fact all the 
viscera are more or less affected, through reflex 
action, by the emotions. 

The Bible was written for the instruction of 
the whole human family, and hence it uses mostly 
the language of the people. The emotional na- 
ture, therefore, in the Scriptures, as in other 
writings, is located in the heart which is merely 
a muscular organ with little nerve ganglions that 
send through the appropriate nerves only organ- 
ic impressions to the brain, while the real organs 
of emotion are located in the brain itself — a deep- 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 83 

er center than the heart. This deeper center is 
the medium of communication between mind and 
body, between the seen and the unseen; and the 
force and clearness of perception in any special 
circle of thought or emotion depend upon the de- 
velopment and culture of its special center in 
the living cells of the brain. 

Of all the parts of the body the cells of the 
sensorium are the most plastic and the most sus- 
ceptible of culture, and hence suffer most from 
neglect. If the sense of sight, for example, be 
used but little it becomes imperfect ; if the ear is 
not often attuned to the "concordance of sweet 
sounds" it loses the power of distinguishing 
them ; and if the quality of mercy is not exercised 
the warm spot in the brain whence it flows be- 
comes cold. 

Now, as in the brain are located the faculties 
through which we apprehend the qualities of mat- 
ter, the manifestations of force, and the phenom- 
ena of life and mind, so there exists in it the spec- 
ial faculty, the spiritual sense, through which we 
may acquire "the knowledge of the Most High," 
and enjoy His presence and favor. 

This sense may be so weakened by hereditary 
influence, personal indifference, and lack of cul- 
ture that it becomes almost or quite dormant, and 
ceases to respond to divine stimili, even while 
other faculties may be developed and cultivated 
to a high degree; so that of men thus trained it 
may truly be affirmed with regard to their ina- 
bility to understand the knowledge of God, "hav- 
ing eyes they see not, and ears they hear not." 



84 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

In the Bible the power of knowing the Lord is 
placed rather in the emotional than in the intel- 
lectual part of the soul of man. Mere intellec- 
tual knowledge of the attributes of God is of a 
cold and theoretical character, while that which 
comes through the percipient heart is warm, liv- 
ing and practical, bringing the individual into 
vital relation to God. Hence "the Lord looketh 
on the heart," and "with the heart men believ- 
eth unto righteousness." Men also "understand 
with their hearts" the eternal knowledge. Paul 
in giving thanks for the Ephesians, prays, "that 
the Father of glory may give unto them a spirit 
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 
Him ; having the eyes of their heart enlightened, 
that they may know what is the hope of His call- 
ing; what the riches of the glory of His inherit- 
ance in the saints, and what the exceeding great- 
ness of His power toward them that believe." 
A Chinese convert to Christianity, having been 
asked to give an illustration of the beatitude, 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 
see God," used this figure: "You say that it is 
hard to worship a God who cannot be seen, and 
that you have no inward evidence of His actual- 
ity. A mirror from which all the quicksilver had 
dropped away might as well complain that it 
could find no trace of the objects placed before it. 
Clean thoughts, clean affections, clean desires 
have the same function in human nature as the 
quicksilver has on the back of the mirror. When 
the heart is filled once more with holy thoughts 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 85 

the perfect image of God will again be seen there." 
No eye but that of the pure of heart can see the 
Father of glory. Through this spiritual sense 
conies the higher knowledge, the light that il- 
lumines the Sacred Scriptures, and the power 
that moves the hearts of men in the preaching 
of the word. 

This knowledge cannot be attained by study 
and research. Learning may mingle its rays with 
those of the higher knowledge, and thus add to 
its luster, but when learning presumes to emit 
all the light, that light is "more apt to obscure 
than to enlighten the Revealed Will of God." 
Words cannot convey to the mind this Divine 
knowledge, nor instructors impart it, though they 
may direct us how to find it. The heart must 
be moved to action and inspire the mind. Even 
the words of Jesus, though they are spirit and 
life, are only so to those who are willing to have 
His Spirit and His life. For three years He 
instructed His disciples, but they understood 
neither Jesus nor His words till after His ascen- 
sion, when on the day of Pentecost they received 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The eyes of their 
hearts were then opened and they began to know 
the truth. God reveals the knowledge of Him- 
self only through His Spirit, "for the Spirit 
searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. 
For who among men knoweth the things of a 
man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? 
Even so the things of God none knoweth save the 
Spirit of God. Now we received not the spirit 



86 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

of the world, but the spirit which is of God that 
we might know the things that are freely given 
us of God." "Neither knoweth any man the 
Father save the Son and he to whom the Son will 
reveal Him." To them who receive the only- 
begotten Son of God power is given to become the 
children of God, and the Spirit of truth is sent to 
"guide them into all truth." To know God we 
must come into filial relationship to Him. 

The knowledge imparted by the Spirit of God 
does not consist in knowing His Eternal Essence, 
nor even His attributes in their fullness. Who 
knows the essential nature of matter, or of force? 
Who can understand infinite power, comprehend 
infinite wisdom, or measure infinite space? The 
sun is ninety-three million miles from the earth, 
and they are, though so far apart, near neighbors. 
We reckon the distance and name it in mile 1 :, 
but no man can form a conception of distance 
that will take in more than a small part of the 
space between the sun and the earth. It takes 
light eight minutes to traverse this distance. 
There are stars innumerable so far from the 
earth that it takes thousands of years for light 
to pass through the intervening space. We can 
only stand astonished and bewildered in the pres- 
ence of distance so great — "distance inexpressi- 
ble by numbers that have names." But God, 
in whom dwells all fullness, fills all this immeas- 
urable sphere of immensity. Infinite power, and 
infinite wisdom, and infinite goodness extend 
beyond the utmost periphery of the starry uni- 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE S7 

verse. Is not God then, in the language of sci- 
ence, unknowable? "Who by searching can find 
out God." We cannot, it is true, grasp infinite 
power, but we can look upon visible manifesta- 
tions of it ; nor can we comprehend infinite space, 
yet we can measure fractional portions of it : nor 
can we attain unlimited knowledge and wisdom, 
but we can learn within a limited range and apply 
our hearts to know wisdom. We cannot measure 
the fullness of God's life and light and love, but 
we can feel the vital energy of His life, walk in 
His light, and enjoy the blessedness of His lov a . 
The eternal knowledge cannot be acquired by 
studying the works of God nor even by reading 
the Scriptures. A man may give his life to 
these studies and yet never come to know God. 
You may study for years your neighbor in his 
works and words, and yet not know him as you 
know your close friend. To know a man you 
must feel the pulsations of his heart, be in sym- 
pathy with his purposes, and be moved by his 
spirit. Likewise in learning the knowledge of 
God, we must come into communion with Him, 
become inspired by His Spirit, abide in His love, 
and bring every thought, emotion, and impulse 
into accord with His will. To have the life of 
God in the soul, to walk in the light of His life, 
to dwell in His love, is to know God. "Every 
one," says the Beloved disciple, "that loveth is be- 
gotten of God and knoweth God. He that loveth 
not, knoweth not God, for God is love." No two 
persons can know each other till they become one 



88 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

in love and one in spirit. No one can know God, 
and, in the sense of recognition, be known of God 
till he becomes one with God. As the light, and 
the heat, and the chemical force of the sunbeam 
constitute one white wave of light that illumines 
the earth and discloses the sun, so the life of the 
Eternal Word, and the light which is the out- 
shining of that life, and love which is the warmth 
of that life form one white wave of spiritual light 
that illumines the soul and reveals God in His 
beauty and glory. 

If scholars would give more thought to the 
higher knowledge, and less to the "higher criti- 
cism," there would be less fault-finding with the 
Bible and better interpretation of its teaching. 
Concentrate all the light of science, all the light 
of history, and all the light of scholarship on the 
pages of the grand old Book, but above all let the 
brighter light of "the wisdom that cometh from 
above" illumine both the mind and the sacred page 
in our study of it. The same Spirit that moved 
holy men of old to write the Scriptures must 
move the mind and the heart of him who studies 
them. Being thus moved, he receives "the unc- 
tion from the Holy One." "The anointing," says 
St. John, "which ye have received from Him abid- 
eth in you, and ye need not that any man should 
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth 
you of all things, and is no lie, and even as it hath 
taught you, ye shall abide in Him." 

We study for the purpose of learning, yet this 
is not in many things the best method of acquir- 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 89 

ing knowledge. Experience is often the best and 
sometimes the only way of learning much that 
helps to fill out life. This is the method that 
Jesus gave us for attaining eternal knowledge. 
"If any man wills to do His will," said Jesus, 
"he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of 
God, or whether I speak of myself." What, it 
may be asked, is the will of God? "This is tha 
will of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath 
sent." Faith in Christ works by love, and "love 
is the fulfilling of the law." Love is the inner 
force that moves mind and heart to keep the law 
in thought, word and deed. This opens up the 
glorious realm of spiritual knowledge and puts 
the soul under the tuition of the Holy Spirit. 
"Hereby know we that we abide in Him and He in 
us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." 

"The world passeth away and the lust there- 
of." Man's work is perishable and transitory. 
Most of the literature of the world passes away 
with the generation that produces it. Even in 
Science most of the authorities of today will be 
laid on the shelf tomorrow. "Whether there be 
knowledge it shall pass away." Only heart 
knowledge endures. He who knows God abides 
in love, and love does not pass away but abides 
forever. 

In one of our great universities a student said 
to one of his classmates: "It is a pity you are a 
Christian. Religion contracts the mind, and 
prevents broadness in scholarship and largeness 
of view." The reverse of this is truth and fact. 



90 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

The more pure in heart a man becomes the more 
vividly does he see and appreciate the beauty and 
sublimity of the world. "What we see in nature 
is to some extent a question of intellect. But the 
vision of the world's glory is far more a question 
of the moral and spiritual than it is of the in- 
tellectual." A poor man said: "When I went 
home on the night that God forgave my sins and 
revealed His love in my heart, I thought that the 
stars looked brighter than I had ever seen them 
look before." When a man has been long sick 
and takes his first walk in the fields, he becomes 
ecstatic over a buttercup; he stops at a common 
weed as if it were a lily; he thinks a blackbird 
beautiful as a bird of paradise. All this is more 
intensely true when God heals the sickness of the 
soul, removes the burden of the conscience, and 
the hardened sinner, endowed with the power of 
the spiritual life, walks in the eternal sunshine. 
Blessed are the pure in heart for they see God — 
they see everything. Nature becomes glorified. 

"The earth is crammed with heaven, 
And every common bush afire with God." 

Christianity, far from dwarfing the intellect, 
gives it almost unlimited expansion. It enables 
the mind and heart to read nature in the light of 
truth, and look through nature up to the Creator 
of nature. "Godliness and righteousness make 
science possible. Godliness creates that infinite 
curiosity of soul which is the life of science, and 
righteousness secures that condition of things 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 91 

which makes the prosecution of science possible." 
Some of our scientists are trying to make us be- 
lieve that religion is opposed to science. They 
lose sight of men like Galileo and Kepler, New- 
ton and Faraday, and Lord Kelvin. They can- 
not shut our eyes to the fact that science always 
follows the Cross. 

"Sin — that is, pride, selfishness, sensuality, 
materialism — spoils the intellectual life of men. 
All righteousness and spiritual living develop the 
intellectual life also. Some of our literary teach- 
ers are anxious to teach us another doctrine. 
They tell us that art is trammeled by moral rules ; 
it wants absolute freedom. Yet Ruskin assures 
us that none of the great masters had faults of 
character but those faults told in their works, 
mysteriously straining and darkening the pris- 
matic splendors of their masterpieces. These an- 
tinomian teachers tell us that poetry demands 
license. 'Well ordered feelings,' they say, 'a bal- 
anced mind, and regular habits have seldom 
resulted in poetry, hardly ever in poetry of the 
highest order.' They forget men like Dante and 
Milton; like Tennyson and Browning, and Long- 
fellow. How strange is the argument that licen- 
tiousness of thought and feeling can improve art 
and literature! Men never think that license is 
desirable for corporeal perfection ; that if you are 
to improve your complexion you are to have the 
small pox; that men can only attain athletic 
strength and grace through a course of rheuma- 
tism and consumption. No, no; it is useless to 



92 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

treat us to such pitiful nonsense. We know that 
temperance and purity are essential to physical 
perfection, and temperance and purity, and truth 
of life are even more essential to the full perfec- 
tion and splendor of human genius." All intel- 
lectual life becomes deeper, fuller, nobler as the 
spiritual life grows deeper, purer and more in- 
tense. 

The higher life enlarges and elevates the in- 
tellect and enthuses the heart. The whole realm 
of Nature contributes to the Christian's outlook 
and enjoyment, and the Book containing the 
Written Revelation furnishes themes that beget 
the most exalted thought and excite the most ex- 
pansive sympathy and love. All that the micro- 
scope can reveal in the world of the "infinitely 
little," all that the telescope can disclose in the 
world of infinite space, all that science can find 
out about what God has made may form part of 
his intellectual wealth. He is not only a child of 
time but also of eternity, — not a citizen of this 
world alone but of all worlds. As a child of 
God, endowed with "eternal knowledge," he finds 
in Christ heirship to an inheritance that is in- 
corruptible, undefiled and eternal. Christ Jesus 
is King of all kingdoms, "King of all worlds, 
both of space and time." He is heir of all things, 
and admits the spiritually-born and loyal chil- 
dren of His Father to co-heirship with Himself. 
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things." 
There is no narrowness in this outlook. It was 
no mere outburst of emotion that moved the 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 93 

greatest of the apostles to exclaim : "Yea, verily 
and I count all things to be loss" — all the splen- 
did literature of the Greeks, all the accumulated 
learning of the Orient, all the immunities of 
Roman citizenship, all the possibilities of pre- 
ferment and honors — "I count all things to be 
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus my Lord." Encircled in this excelling 
knowledge is the fullness of the Godhead; the 
riches of Divine grace; the unspeakable gift of 
God; the lifegiving presence of the Eternal 
Spirit ; the treasures of wisdom and knoweclge ; 
the immensity and persistence of God's love; 
in a word, "the Beauty of the Lord our God." 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE : HOW 
TO ATTAIN IT 



Because thou hast asked Wisdom and Knowl- 
edge for thyself, Wisdom and Knowledge are 
granted unto thee. 

— 2 Chronicles 1:11, 12. 



The opening of Thy words giveth light; it giv- 
eth understanding unto the simple. 

— Psalm 119:130. 



If our plans are not for time but for eternity, 
our knowledge, and therefore our love to God, to 
each other, to everything, will progress forever. 
And the attainment of this heavenly wisdom re- 
quires neither ecstacy, nor revelation, but prayer, 
and watchfulness, and observation and solemn 
thought. 

Two great rules for its attainment are simple 
enough — Never forget what and where you are, 
and grieve not the Holy Spirit, for "If a man 
wills to do God's will he shall know of the doc- 
trine." 

— Charles Kingsley. 



Knowledge is folly unless grace guide it. 

— George Herbert. 



VI 

ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE: HOW TO 
ATTAIN IT 

A barrister who read the preceding paper 
said to the author: "You have succeeded in 
showing that there is Eternal Knowledge, but 
you have not showed how to attain it." 

The answer to the question implied in the 
statement above requires broader knowledge 
and higher wisdom than have been acquired by 
the world's great teachers. To know one's 
self was the highest knowledge attained in an- 
cient civilization. When the inquiring Greek 
attempted to look still higher his vision failed, 
and there he erected an altar, dedicating it 

"TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." 

"Where then shall wisdom be found? 

And where is the place of understanding? 

Man knoweth not the price thereof; 

Neither is it found in the land of the living. 

It cannot be gotten for gold; 

Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof." 

Man by education and culture alone cannot 
climb to the table-land of the higher knowl- 
edge. He cannot of himself even discover the 
way. 

"That path no bird of prey knoweth, 
And the sons of pride have not trodden it." 



98 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Out of the "Unseen Holy," far above the con- 
fusion and din of earth's aspirants for knowl- 
edge and wisdom, comes a cheering voice sweetly 
calling, 

"Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, 
And to depart from evil is understanding." 

"All the world is but an orphanage," says 
Ruskin, "so long as its children know not God, 
their father; and all wisdom and knowledge is 
only more bewildering darkness so long as you 
have not taught them the fear of the Lord." 
The wisdom writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, 
without a dissenting voice, affirm that "The fear 
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That 
is to say there is no true wisdom unless it has 
its inception in the fear of God and keeps us 
from sin. "The children of this world," said 
the Great Teacher, "are wiser in their genera- 
tion than the children of light," that is, they 
are wiser in the wisdom of this life, and often 
more prosperous and more successful, as the 
world goes, than the children of light, but their 
wisdom is not that which is from above, "that 
is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, 
full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and 
without hypocrisy." 

Now the fear of the Lord is not akin to fear- 
fulness, not an apprehension of evil, but a fepl- 
ing that moves the soul to loving service, that 
veils the face in the Divine Presence, and cries, 
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." "The 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 99 

secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." 
Those who have this secret, who are born of 
the Spirit into the new life of loving fear, move 
in a spiritual environment which enables them 
to grow in wisdom and to increase in the knowl- 
edge and love of God our Savior. 

God is "the one Source of all that is fair and 
good," but we cannot by merely studying the fair 
and good, acquire a knowledge of their Source. 
The world by the wisdom of science and phi- 
losophy knows not God. A true knowledge of God, 
the Eternal Father, cannot be attained through 
the persistance of mental effort and culture, nor 
by "advances through stages of admiration." 
This knowledge comes only in the new spiritual 
birth and in the new life as it develops through 
penitence, faith and prayer. The penitent, thus 
born into a new life in Christ Jesus by the pow- 
er of the Holy Spirit unto good works and good 
thoughts, in the purity of a renewed heart, be- 
holds God and abides in peace and joy. Unless 
in the new life we see the light of the glory 
of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ we 
cannot see and know God. "The spirit of Jesus," 
says A. J. Gordon, "can alone reveal to men 
the Lordship of Jesus, and this key of knowl- 
edge the Holy Spirit will never put into the 
hand of any man, however learned. As it is 
written that Christ is the 'raying forth' of the 
Father's glory and 'the express image of his 
person,' thus by a beautiful figure reminding 
us that as we can only see the sun in the rays 



100 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

of the sun, so we can only know God in Jesus 
Christ who is the manifestation of God. It 
is so likewise between the second and third per- 
sons of the Trinity. Christ is the image of the 
invisible God; the Holy Spirit is the invisible 
image of Christ. As Jesus manifests the Father 
outwardly, the Spirit manifests Jesus inwardly, 
forming Him within us as the hidden man of 
the heart, imaging Him to the spirit by an in- 
terior impression which no intellectual instruc- 
tion, however diligent, can effect." 

One of the conditions of growth in Divine 
Knowledge, as above stated, and the most im- 
portant of them is prayer, for without unceas- 
ing prayer the other conditions will fail. "Real 
knowledge," says Thomas Arnold, of Rugby, 
"like everything else of the highest value, is 
not to be obtained easily. It must be worked 
for — studied for — thought for — and above all it 
must be prayed for." Earthly knowledge is 
acquired as the reward of resolute labor in the 
appropriate exercise of the natural faculties, but 
education in the higher world cannot be secured 
by labor alone, for that teaching comes only 
through petition. In the book of wisdom, seventh 
chapter and sixth verse, is found this remark- 
able statement: 

"I willed (resolutely desired) and sense was given me. 
I prayed and the spirit of wisdom came upon me. 
And I set her before (preferred her to) kingdoms and 
thrones." 

It looks as though Francis Bacon had this 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 101 

text in mind when he quaintly but forcibly said 
"that the sense of man carrieth a resemblance 
with the sun, which, as we see, openeth and 
revealeth all the terrestrial globe ; but then again 
it obscureth and concealeth the stars and ce- 
lestial globe; so doth the sense discover natural 
things, but it darkeneth and shutteth up divine." 

Of this text Ruskin says, "You must begin 
your education with the distinct resolution to 
know what is true, and the choice of the straight 
and rough road to such knowledge. This choice 
is offered to every youth and maid at some mo- 
ment of their life; — choice between the easy, 
downward road, so broad that we can dance 
down it in companies, and the steep, narrow 
way which we must enter alone. Then, and 
for many a day afterward, they need that form 
of persistent option and will; but day by day 
the 'Sense' of the righteousness they have done 
deepens on them, not in consequence of the ef- 
fort, but by gift granted in reward of it. And 
the sense of the difference between right and 
wrong, and between beautiful and unbeautiful 
things, is confirmed in the heroic, and fulfilled 
in the industrious soul. 

"That is the process of education in the 
earthly sciences and the morality connected with 
them. Reward given to faithful volition. 

"Next, when moral and physical senses arc 
perfect, comes the desire for education in the 
higher world, where the senses are no more our 
Teachers, but the Maker of the senses. And 



102 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

that teaching we cannot get by labor, but only by 
petition. 

"I prayed and the Spirit of wisdom (not, you 
observe, was given, but) came upon me. The 
personal power of Wisdom, the Santa Sophia to 
whom the first Christian church was dedicated. 
This higher wisdom, governing by her presence 
all earthly conduct, and by her teaching all earth- 
ly art, is obtained only by prayer." 

"For knowledge to become wisdom," says W. 
Mountford, "and for the soul to grow, the soul 
must become rooted in God; and it is through 
prayer that there comes to us that which is the 
strength of our strength and the virtue of our 
virtue, the Holy Spirit." 

The time in which we are living has been char- 
acterized as "a prayerless age." Men are too 
busy to pray, too intently engaged in temporal 
affairs to give attention to things that pertain 
to the unseen and eternal. In this state of mind 
the tendency is to become self-sufficient, and for- 
getful of "the Father of lights from whom com- 
eth down every good and every perfect gift." 
They thus fail to secure the supreme blessings of 
life. These depend upon a prayerful life, and 
come upon us on our compliance with the con- 
ditions expressed in the promise, "Ask, and ye 
shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock, and 
the door shall be opened unto you." 

In the blindness of our hearts we do not always 
know what we ought to pray for, nor how to ask, 
where language often fails, for the blessings that 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 103 

meet the spiritual needs of the soul. But in our 
immortal longings and earnest prayer "the Spirit 
also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how 
to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
cannot be uttered; and He that searcheth the 
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, 
because He maketh intercession for the saints 
according to the will of God." Our Father in the 
heavens is ever ready to answer effectual, fervent 
prayer, "uttered or unexpressed." He freely 
gives knowledge divine and wisdom to all who 
"ask in faith, nothing wavering or doubting." 
Therefore, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask 
of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
braideth not, and it shall be given him." 

To prayer must be added watchfulness lest we 
become ensnared in temptation, when our light 
shall become darkness, and our knowledge weak- 
ness. Watching must be accompanied with 
prayer. "Watch in all things. Watch unto 
prayer." 

Waiting on the Lord in prayerful, thoughtful 
meditation upon His works, in hearing His word 
preached, and in attendance upon the appointed 
means of Grace will enable us to grow in the wis- 
dom and knowledge that are eternal. 

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous 
man availeth much." He who seeks to have the 
Spirit of Wisdom come upon him and abide with 
him in answer to prayer must lead a holy life, 
denying himself, not only all ungodliness and 



104 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

worldly lusts, but also, if need be, giving up to 
a greater or less degree the good things of life, 
and laying aside every weight, must toil and 
strive, in the Spirit of prayer, in order to become 
proficient in the knowledge of the Most High. 
Prayer is the condition on which God gives the 
Wisdom that cometh from above, and unceasing 
prayer is the condition on which He keeps the 
recipient in its clear atmosphere. Who ceases 
to pray restores the dominion of the devil. 

The last to be considered, though not the least 
in importance, of the means of becoming wise 
unto salvation is the reverent, prayerful study of 
the Sacred Scriptures, whose blessed light, shim 
ing upon the works of God, transforms them into 
mirrors reflecting the Beauty of the Lord. "The 
knowledge of man is as the waters," says Bacon, 
"some descending from above, and some spring- 
ing up from beneath; the one informed by the 
light of nature, the other inspired by Divine 
Revelation." 

The discovery of truth in God's Works, as well 
as in His Word, enlarges the horizon of our 
knowledge whenever faith, generated in the heart 
by the Spirit of all grace, apprehends God as the 

"Lord of all being, throned afar, 
Whose glory flames from Sun and star." 

Studying in the attitude of prayer and faith the 
works of God, after the Spirit of Wisdom has en- 
lightened the soul, gives us clearer ideas of His 
Beauty, and cultivates the knowledge and wisdom 
that abide. 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 105 

Nature reveals God through His works in 
space and time; the Bible reveals Him as the 
timeless One who inhabits eternity, whose name 
is Holy, and whose throne is set above all heav- 
ens. His Works reveal His power and Wisdom ; 
His word makes known His purposes and love. 
The two Revelations are complementary, and 
united constitute "the Glorious Temple, with its 
magnificent proportions, shapely columns, rare 
devices, choicest ornaments," and most blessed 
lights, in which God manifests Himself to the 
devout worshiper. 

The two Books bespeak the same Great Author. 
The Bible, like Nature, has its heights and 
depths, its joyous landscapes and arid deserts, 
its lights and shadows, its mysteries and sim- 
plicities. To the ordinary observer, without the 
light of science, the beautiful order and unvary- 
ing laws of nature work unsuspected back of the 
apparently confused phenomena. So, without 
the spirit of prayer and faith, the self-contained 
student of the Bible fails to discover its order and 
harmony, its truth and beauty. 

Some of the evidences of the Divineness of the 
Bible are open only to the learned, but most of 
them are within the common reach; and there is 
one kind of evidence, apart from and above all 
others, that is not concealed in libraries. It is 
open to all and requires no critical learning, 
nor searching of antiquity. It is the Voice of the 
Book — a voice that speaks in no earthly tone. 
It is a Voice of the Holy One, saying, "Be ye 



106 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

holy, for I am Holy." It is a voice of warning, 
crying, "Turn ye, for why will ye die?" It is 
a voice of love, calling, "Come unto me, all ye 
who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you 
rest." It is a voice of sadness, complaining, "Ye 
will not come unto Me that ye might have life." 
It is a voice of promise declaring, "He that liv- 
eth and believeth on Me shall never die." The 
soul may not all at once hear this Divine tone 
in every part of the Book, but hearing it in any 
part, it hears a tone that rings in no other book, 
and feeling that it is God's own Voice, it is sure 
that the book is God's Book. Amid the din of 
life's many voices and in the wild tumult of pas- 
sion within, the soul may not always hear this 
Divine Voice, or hear it but faintly. 

"The Bible is a plain old book," says Heine, 
"modest as nature and as simple too — like the 
sun that warms, or the bread that nourishes us. 
It is indeed justly called Holy Writ. It is God's 
work, like a tree, like a flower, like man himself. 
It is the Word of God." 

Whittier knew the value of the plain old Book, 
as compared with other books, when he wrote: 

"We search the world for truth, we cull 
The good, the true, the beautiful, 
From graven stone and written scroll, 
From the old flower-fields of the soul; 
And, weary seekers for the best, 
We come back laden from our quest, 
To find that all the sages said 
Is in the book our mothers read." 

Sir Walter Scott, when nearing the end of life's 
journey, said to his son-in-law, "Head to me." 



ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE 107 

"What book shall I read," asked Lockhart. 
"There is but One," replied the dying sage. If, 
then, the Bible is a book which so stands apart 
from all other books that a scholar, and author of 
world-wide fame, when nearing the end of his 
course, says of it, "There is but One Book," sure- 
ly it concerns us to ask most earnestly, "What 
is that book?" Let a learned Bishop answer: 
"It is human history with the flesh off, so that we 
can see motives, hidden powers, souls, and Soul 
of all things. It is human history in four words 
— union, disunion, reconstruction, reunion. It 
is, first, the union designed between man and God 
in heredity, companionship, helpfulness, and des- 
tiny. Then it is disunion when man broke out 
into disobedience of law, and therefore had all 
its energies, potent to bless, necessarily per- 
verted to restraint. Then it is a record of God's 
efforts through millennia at reconstruction of 
man's lost powers and unities. It is finally re- 
union perfected, illustrated in the God-man walk- 
ing the earth, showing the etiquette of heaven 
and the possibilities of man reunited to God. 
It was Lessing who first defined the Bible as the 
record of the Divine education of the race. 
Looked at in this way, perplexities vanish, and 
all becomes clear as light itself. We do not take 
a microscope to study in it statistics, geology, 
and a hundred other ologies, all right in them- 
selves, but we come open-eyed and open-hearted 
to ask 'Does it teach salvation?' The heavens 
are the open book of astronomy, the earth of 
geology. But the Bible is the open book of sal- 



108 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

vation from sin. And there is an infallible 
Teacher of the Book," even the Spirit of truth. 

Let us then search the Scriptures. They con- 
tain the words of eternal life and eternal knowl- 
edge, and they testify of Him who is the author 
of eternal salvation, who is Lord of all being, in 
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge, who will, in answer to the prayer of 
faith, "make our love abound more and more in 
knowledge and in all discernment; that we may 
approve the things that are excellent; that we 
may be sincere and without offense till the day of 
Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteous- 
ness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and 
praise of God." 

Having acquired the knowledge that is eternal, 
let us apply it in our every-day life. Then we 
shall attain blessedness and adorn the doctrine 
of God our Savior in all things. The highest 
knowledge moves us to do justly, to love mercy, 
and to work humbly with God, who approves serv- 
ice as well as worship, and loves righteousness and 
kind deeds more even than offerings and sacrifice. 
In its pure light let us live and work in doing our 
duty to our God, to our neighbor, and to our- 
selves. Denying all ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, let us live soberly, and righteously, and 
godly in all our ways, ever remembering that 
godliness, which is the practical expression of the 
eternal knowledge, excludes everything that is 
bad and includes all that is good. Let us, like 
Kepler, strive "To think God's thoughts after 
Him," and weave them into our daily life. 



LIGHT 



The Lord is my light. 

—Psalm 27:1 



God i3 Light. 

— 1 John 1:5. 



Hail, Holy Light! offspring of heaven firstborn; 

Or of the Eternal, co-eternal beam 

May I express thee unblamed? Since God is light, 

And never but in unapproached light 

Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee, 

Bright, effluence of bright Essence uncreate. 

Or hearest thou rather pure etherial wave 

Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun 

Before the Heaven thou wert; and at the voice 

Of God, as with a. mantle didst invest 

The rising world of waters dark and deep, 

Won from the void and formless infinite. 

— Milton. 



Light is the Shekinah of the Divine Presence 
in Nature. 

— F. W. Upham. 



God is truth and light is His shadow. 

—Plato. 



VII 

LIGHT 

Next to Life the most subtile and most won- 
derful object within the circle of human know- 
ledge is Light. Of its essential nature nothing 
is known. Only its properties and powers come 
within the range of our observation. Though it 
reveals to the sense of sight the material uni- 
verse, overspreading both earth and sky with 
beauty, garnishing the heavens, lighting up the 
hills, sparkling in the gem, and "making the 
blooming bush glow as if with the presence of 
God," it persists in hiding itself, continuing unre- 
vealed to the eye and to the intellect. 

Science has accepted the theory that light is 
a mode of motion similar to that of sound. This 
theory may, however, in the future become dis- 
placed by the electro-magnetic theory; but what- 
ever theory may hold the scientific mind light 
will remain unchanged in its nature and action. 
The phenomena of light are analogous to those of 
sound. Both obey the same laws and are assum- 
ed to be motions of oscillation which, like the pro- 
pagation of waves in water, take place by a series 
of vibrations. But while sound is carried along 
on waves of air light traverses space in the pres- 
ence or absence of the atmospheric gases. Thus 
its vibration is evidently carried to the eye by a 
medium very different from air, called luminif- 



112 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

erous ether, which is of a nature so subtle that it 
entirely escapes our senses. Taking up, as is sup- 
posed, the molecular tremors of luminous bodies 
it conveys them with inconceivable velocity to 
our organs of vision, and reveals not only the 
forms of terrestrial objects, but also the exist- 
ence of celestial orbs countless millions of miles 
distant. 

"The ether suffers no rupture of continuity 
at the surface of the eye; the molecular spaces 
of the various humors are filled with it ; hence the 
waves generated by a luminous body can cross 
these humors and impinge on the optic nerve at 
the back of the eye. Thus the sensation of light 
reduces itself to the communication of motion. 
Up to this point we deal with pure mechanics, 
but the subsequent translation of the shock of 
the etherial waves into consciousness eludes the 
analysis of science." 

We know that the image, formed by the rays 
of light on the retina, is conveyed by the optic 
nerves to the center of vision in the grey matter 
of the brain and there, becoming mirrored in the 
consciousness, may be retained as an object of 
thought; but the rays of light that form the im- 
age refuse to be photographed on the sensitive 
plate of the optic nerve, and thus escape the scru- 
tiny of the most subtle investigation. 

Light fills all space, infusing itself through 
every object and taking its nature. It dances 
in the aurora, flashes out in the storm-cloud, 
glows in the sun, breaks into colors in the rain- 



LIGHT 113 

bow, sparkles in the diamond. The most bril- 
liant of all things, it is dark in black quartz, the 
hottest of all things, it is cold in ice; the softest 
of all things, it is hard in steel ; and though sur- 
passing all things in energy, it is quiescent in 
flint. Yet, whether in motion or at rest the sense 
of sight cannot discern it nor the sense of touch 
reach it. Then, "Where is the way to the dwell- 
ing place of light?" The scientist has not found 
it, nor the philosopher discovered it. They are 
teaching that light is a mode of motion. "This 
cloaks ignorance with a word as in the case of the 
word gravitation. It is merely the putting forth 
of a name as an explanation. In that word men 
of science no more find the secret of Light than 
unscientific men find it in the universal effects 
of its indispensible presence and power in nature 
and life. There cannot be motion without force, 
and what is that force, that omnipotent force 
which everywhere gives motion? How does it 
originate? Who gives that force its many prop- 
erties and powers, its myriads of millions of 
effects in the heavens and the earth? Who 
guides them? Who controls them?" 

In a recent lecture on the Roentgen rays, Dr. 
Ames, of the Johns Hopkins University, said : 
"Our ideas of nature are based on two appar- 
ently distinct things. One is ordinary matter, 
which appeals to our senses; as, for example, 
a table, a glass of water; the other is what is call- 
ed ether, which is a medium permeating all the 
spaces, large and small, between different por- 



114 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

tions of ordinary matter. The ether is between 
us and the sun and the stars; it is also between 
the molecules of matter. We are constantly hoping 
to find the connection between matter and ether. 
If we succeed, we will then understand the action 
of light, electricity, and magnetism." 

It is clear from this statement that science is 
still seeking to gain a position from which the 
action of light can be understood. It is very 
doubtful, however, whether this desired point 
will ever be reached, while the nature of light, 
as an object of scientific investigation, lies en- 
tirely beyond the realm of science. 

Our infinite, eternal Creator has adopted two 
methods of revealing Himself to men which re- 
flect light upon each other — one through His 
works, the other in human language. The Writ- 
ten Revelation not only gives the principles and 
precepts necessary for our moral and spiritual 
life, but also makes known the goodness, the kind- 
ness, the infinite love of the Creator, and the 
great facts in the creation and government of the 
Kingdom of Nature. It covers everything, and 
thus teaches much that cannot be learned, or is 
only dimly seen in the things that are made. 
Its unity and its fulness, as well as its silences, 
are marvelously similar to those of Nature and 
declare the same Great Author. With genius 
and fine critical insight, blended with reverence, 
Lord Kelvin declares: "Its words are remark- 
able — miraculous they seem — in that character of 
reserve which leaves open to reason all that 



LIGHT 115 

reason may be able to attain. The meaning of 
its words seems always to be ahead of science." 

Throughout the ancient world the idea long 
prevailed that matter in all its various forms 
is everywhere and always one and essentially 
the same substance or essence. In the modern 
world the study of nature's phenomena tends 
to the conclusion that all the countless changes 
going on in matter are due to one and the same 
force acting under varying conditions. Science 
may some day discover that force to be the ele- 
ment named, in the Written Revelation, Light. 
She has recently made the startling discovery 
that light can be weighed. This fact goes far 
toward proving the contention that light is sub- 
stance. 

Light flashed out through the depths of space 
before the work of creating the solar system com- 
menced. While the Spirit of God was moving 
upon the waters of infinity, "God said, let there 
be light; and there was light." Then and there 
was imparted to the universe the power that 
moves the worlds in their orbits, that twinkles 
in the stars and flashes in the cloud ; that lifts up 
the masses of watery vapor into the air and 
warms into vital energy the living germ ; that re- 
veals to sight the material world and illumines the 
realm where thought reigns. Under varying and 
appropriate conditions it transforms itself into 
light, heat, electricity, or magnetism. This mar- 
velous all-pervading element is every where 
present; in the opaque body as well as in the 



116 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

transparent, in the dark space as well as in the 
illuminated. It is estimated that there are ten 
thousand foot-tons of this power in every cubic 
foot of space. 

Darkness was the symbol of God's presence in 
the cloud on Mt. Sinai, and in the cloud on the 
Mercy Seat. "All the men of Israel assembled 
themselves unto King Solomon, and it came to 
pass that the cloud filled the House of the Lord 
so that the priests could not stand to minister 
before the Lord, for the glory of the Lord had 
filled the House of the Lord ; then spake Solomon, 
the Lord said He would dwell in the thick dark- 
ness." God is also revealed as dwelling in the 
light. In one of ancient Israel's hymns of praise 
occur these words: "Bless the Lord, O my soul. 
Lord my God, thou art very great, who cover- 
est Thyself with Light as with a garment." 
These words are in unison with an utterance in 
one of the latest writings of the Holy Scriptures 
— an ascription of "glory and strength" to "God 
who quickeneth all things, the King of kings and 
Lord of lords, who alone hath immortality, dwell- 
ing in the Light which no man can approach 
unto, whom no man hath seen or can see." In 
these Scriptures God is represented as dwelling 
in "the thick darkness," and also in "unapproach- 
able Light." God dwells in light so intensely 
brilliant that to mortal eyes it would be a con- 
suming fire, and also "He is the King invisible" 
dwelling in "the thick darkness." How can 
statements so opposite be reconciled? Excess of 



LIGHT 117 

light to us becomes darkness. The darkness 
then, in which God was said to dwell, and which 
was before time began to be reckoned, may have 
been Light which to mortals would have been 
darkness — an insufferable, annihilating bright- 
ness, for no man can see God and live. 

In the sixth chapter of Paul's second letter to 
the Corinthians, it is revealed that "light was 
commanded to shine out of darkness." Now 
darkness is not eternal. It is a condition effected 
through the will of the Creator. Light is the 
eternal garment of God, and since God abides 
ever and is everywhere, filling not only space and 
time but also eternity, there is nothing hid from 
the light of His presence. "God is Light and in 
Him is no darkness at all." If then to finite 
beings light becomes transformed into shade, 
into twilight, or into darkness, the change must 
be effected by conditions established by Divine 
Power. God Himself, through His inspired proph- 
et said, "I form the light and create darkness." 
When, therefore, God said, "Let there be light," 
may not the Creating Word have so tempered the 
unapproachable Light in which He dwelt as to 
render it bearable and pleasant to created vision, 
and make created life possible in the heavens 
and on the earth? If this idea is correct, light is 
the softened outshining of the ineffably glorious 
Light in which God eternally dwells. 

In the action of the Roentgen rays we have a 
faint shadowgraph of the action of light in the 
sight of God. As in the action of these rays, 
whether lucid, electric, or magnetic, they pass 



118 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

through opaque bodies and illuminate them so the 
Light in which our Omniscient Creator dwells, 
shines through and through every life and illu- 
minates every atom of every world, thus laying, 
"all things naked and open before the eyes of 
Him with whom we have to do." "The eyes of 
the Lord are in every place. The darkness and 
the light are both alike to Him. The night sfrn - 
eth as the day." 

To the Jews Jesus said, "As the Father hath 
life in Himself, so hath he given to the Son to 
have life in Himself." And again He said, "He 
that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but 
shall have the light of life." In the fourth verse 
of the prologue to St. John's Gospel occurs this 
marvelous utterance, affirmed of the Eternal 
Word : "That which was made in Him was Life, 
and the Life was the Light of men." It becomes 
us to consider with awe words that so far tran- 
scend the heights of merely human thought and 
expression. They reveal the intimate relation of 
life and light. Life is here seen to be effulgent. 
It shines out through the living being, and the 
higher and more intense is the individual life 
the more brilliant is the light of that life. So 
great was the Life in Jesus the Christ that its 
Light illumines every man that comes into the 
world. He is the Fountain of life, He is the 
source of light, and as they blend in Him, so In 
the things that are made light is always associ- 
ated with life. Wherever life is there also is 
light, differently named according to the condi- 
tions under which it is manifested. In the soul 



LIGHT 119 

it is spiritual light, in the mind, intellectual light, 
in the animal, the light of instinct; while in the 
material world it is cosmic light. 

Out of the inexhaustible light in which He 
dwelt in Eternity God illuminated the universe, 
and to every living creature He has given light 
according to its needs. In the lower forms of 
life, the feeble light that is in them is, for the 
most part, not apparent to the sense of sight; 
yet in some cases the latent light becomes efful- 
gent, as in the glow-worm and the firefly, while 
in the higher forms of life it plays upon the 
countenance and flashes out through the eye. 

In man, possessing the gifts common to the 
living world, God has caused to shine a special 
light, which with its attendant endowments lifts 
him above the animal level, and places him on 
the plane of moral and religious culture and re- 
sponsibility. No man is deprived of his needed 
measure of light, which if earnestly and prayer- 
fully followed will illumine more and more the 
way of truth and righteousness. "Unto the up- 
right ariseth light in darkness," and "the path of 
the just is as the shining light that shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day." On the other 
hand, when this Divinely-given light is not fol- 
lowed but is neglected and finally allowed to burn 
out, the dark shadows of spiritual night settle 
down upon the disobedient individual. Jesus, in 
whom shines "the true Light that illumines every 
man that comes into the world," said: "If the 
light that is in thee becomes darkness, how great 
is that darkness!" 



120 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

As our all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Creator 
has so modified the light of the material world 
as to render it pleasant and useful to the eye, 
so He has in His Written Revelation caused its 
light to shine with modified radiance upon our 
spiritual vision. The uniform brightness of the 
noonday is only for the Infinite. For finite 
beings, if to them light comes at all, it must come 
in the mellow tints of the sunset, and in the mild 
hues of the rainbow, which only becomes visible 
when there is rain as well as sunshine. 

"Only the prism's obstruction shows aright 
The secret of a sunbeam, breaks its light 
Into the jeweled bow from blanket white; 
So may a glory from defect arise." 

The light which shines out from the books of the 
Written Word comes to us modified by the in- 
dividuality of the writer. "It comes to us un- 
changed in its essence, because that is unchange- 
able, but still reflected and refracted by the me- 
dium through which it has passed. The Light of 
heaven, like the light of day, can only reach us 
through earthly mediums. The sunlight, lest 
it should blind us with its brightness, must pass 
through the atmosphere with its layers of vapor, 
visible and invisible, it must glance from a my- 
riad surfaces; it must fire the mountain tops, 
and blaze upon the sea, and be colored by the 
evening clouds. And yet, wherever it falls, how- 
ever it is modified, it is always beneficient — even 
more beneficient from the changes to which it is 
subjected — because it is the sunlight still. And 



LIGHT 121 

in the same way, to suit our finite capacities, the 
Light of heaven also must pass through human 
instrumentality. It must display blessed varie- 
ties of hue and graduated intensities of radiance, 
according as it comes to us through the mind of 
a Moses or of an Isaiah, of a St. James or a St. 
Paul. But of itself it can never lead astray, 
because it is Light from heaven. The mystic 
light which, as Jewish legend tells us, gleamed 
over the oracular gems of Aaron's breastplate, 
was ardent now with the azure of the sapphire, 
now with the deep green of the emerald, now 
with the softer luster of the amethyst. Even so 
does the light of inspiration alternately blaze or 
glow in the fiery heart of the apostle to the Gen- 
tiles, in the loving tenderness of St. John the Di- 
vine, in the stern and lofty morality of St. James 
the Lord's brother." 

"Thy Word," says one of the poets of Israel, 
"is a lamp unto my feet and a light in my path." 
In the Bible all the books, like the stars in the 
sky, are ablaze with the Light of heaven, each 
emitting different degrees of radiance and vari- 
eties of hue, while the same Light shines through 
them all. Light is one of the golden threads that 
runs through the warp of the Bible, one of the 
refrains that again and again vibrates on the pen 
of inspiration. The Bible opens with the Divine 
command, "Let there be light," and closes with 
words revealing that God, who commanded the 
light to shine out of darkness, is Himself Light. 
"God is Light" writes the aged disciple whom 
Jesus loved. 



122 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

"Into those three words," says Canon Farrar, 
"St. John compresses the substance of his mes- 
sage and utters one of those great final truths, 
which, since they cannot be transcended, mark 
the close of Revelation. It is not introduced 
abruptly nor disconnectedly, but it requires a 
knowledge of his gospel to see its force. There too, 
in the same order we have, first, the Word, then 
Life, then Light, and there we see that the Light 
is the highest manifestation of the Life, in rela- 
tion to men; so that the epitome of the gospel, 
and the epitome of the Life of Christ, as regards 
the world, is this — that the Light shineth in the 
darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. 
But when man receives the Life as Light, he also 
reflects it, and so becomes a child of Light. In 
these words, therefore, as in God is love, St. 
John sums up all the meaning of his Gospel, al- 
though in the Gospel neither of the expressions 
occurs. Yet Christ is there called Light because 
He is one with the Father, and because He mani- 
fests the Father as Light. 

"But what is the meaning of this final Revela- 
tion that God is Light? The only answer which 
we can give is, that of all existing things not one 
is so pure, so abstract, so glorious, so beneficient, 
so incapable of stain or admixture as earthly 
light, and earthly light is but the analogue of 
the Light which is immaterial and Divine." We 
would be nearer the truth, were we to say that 
earthly light is but the modified action of the 
Light that is immaterial and Divine. 



LIGHT 123 

May we not, with the modesty and reverence 
becoming us when speaking of God, look a little 
more deeply into the meaning of this final reve- 
lation? God is spirit. God, the Eternal Spirit, 
is Life, Light, Love. He has Life in Himself, ir. 
robed in Light, dwells in Love. In Him there is 
no shadow of mortality, no darkness whatever, 
nothing unlovely. It seems clear therefore that 
St. John stated a simple, though to us unfathom- 
able truth, in plain terms, when he was inspired 
to write, "God is Light." From this and other 
Scriptures already considered the conclusion is 
reached that earthly light is the softened out- 
shining of the "Eternal Beam." 

In this final revelation that God is Life, Light, 
Love, He has probably granted us the highest, 
clearest knowledge of Himself that it is possible 
to give in language. He has thus in the closing 
book of Holy Scripture, unfolded to us those final 
truths relating to His Being, beyond which it is 
impossible for us to look, but in the light of which 
we may with profit and delight study the whole 
Revelation of God our Father, in His Works, in 
History, in His Written Word, and in His only 
begotten son. 

Nature, the beautiful and sublime exhibition of 
God's handiwork, in the visible outworking of her 
unseen forces, is ever unfolding more and more 
to the earnest student the Divine Hand which 
fashions all that we see, and is ever pointing 
more and more clearly to the infinite power that 
passed from the Voice of the Creator into the ere- 



124 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

ated when He commanded and the universe stood 
firm, every star moving in its appointed orbit, 
and the sun with his attendant worlds contribu- 
ting to the universal harmony, so that no note of 
discord in the "music of the spheres" has ever 
been struck since "the morning stars sang to- 
gether and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
Everywhere and in every thing the uniformity 
of Nature is so persistent and so unvarying that 
we implicitly rely upon her on-going for the out 
come of tomorrow as well as today, and con- 
form our plans and work to her working forces 
and laws. The outward and visible yield uni- 
form obedience to the inner invisible forces that 
were in the beginning projected into the material 
world. And these forces are so related, according 
to the present teaching of science that they seem 
to be only different manifestations of one force. 
Thus, as we approach the causes of the phenom- 
ena of every-day life and of the laboratory the 
light of science grows more luminous — sometimes 
astounding even the scientist, as in the discovery 
of the cathode rays — until we reach the border- 
land of uncreated power and wisdom, when the 
limited rays of the lamp of science become in- 
stantly extinguished and we can see no further. 
The world by wisdom knows not God, and the 
world can never discover through science the 
Power behind and above the forces that control 
matter. To look into that sacred realm, closed 
to science, we must turn on the light of the Writ • 
ten Revelation of God, "to which we will do well 



LIGHT 125 

to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a 
dark place, till the day dawn and the day-star 
arise in our hearts." The more we search and 
study this Revelation the more intensely will its 
blessed light shine to the praise of the Creator, 
and in the illumination of the created. 

"The starry firmament on high 
And all the glories of the sky 
Yet shine not to Thy praise, O Lord, 
So brightly as Thy Written Word. 
The hopes that Holy Word supplies, 
Its truths divine and precepts wise, 
In each a heavenly beam I see, 
And every beam conducts to Thee." 

In God's words, written in the Bible are spirit 
and life. They have in them the power of 
growth and evolution. We never seem able to 
exhaust the fullness of their meaning. Like per- 
ennial fountains they are inexhaustible. We 
may satisfy our mental and spiritual thirst again 
and again, and yet at every re-reading find re- 
newed freshness and fullness of Divine thought 
and love. Men will never outgrow the teaching 
of the Bible. Its words are luminous with spirit 
and life; and hence there is ever more and more 
light flashing forth from its inspired utterances, 
as the ages unfold and men grow in capacity to 
receive it. The fires in the gem, the flash in the 
dew-drop, and the seven-fold beauty of the rain- 
bow change not in luster from age to age, but the 
Light that shines in the words that were written 
by holy men of old as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit, grows brighter proportional to 



126 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

our growth in the grace of God and in the knowl- 
edge of the truth. 

Through the words of the Written Revelation 
shines the Light of the Lord, revealing glory 
above the heavens, glory before the world was, 
and glory to be manifested in the eternal future. 
It reveals also a glorious Kingdom in this world 
of ours, but not of this world — a kingdom that 
comes not with observation — a kingdom of right- 
eousness and peace and joy, established "without 
hands" in the hearts of its subjects, and destined 
to "stand forever." All who become subjects of 
this Kingdom become also children of light and 
angels of light minister unseen to their spiri- 
tual needs. 

Language used in considering "the things that 
are not seen" must of necessity be largely figura- 
tive. Only when thus clothed can they be pre- 
sented to the mind. So in the Bible we find oft- 
recurring figures of speech referring to the pure, 
abstract element Light. "The root of this in- 
structive and remarkable imagery is in the sub- 
lime chapter that opens the Revelation of God. 
There Light is the medium through which the 
glory of God is revealed in the work of creation. 
In a forming world it is a form-giving element. 
According to the Hebrew Scriptures, this element 
is in Nature what it was in the Temple — the 
Shekinah of the Divine Presence. It is the man- 
tle of the Diety. The Almighty challenges men 
to pierce through its mystery. Thus inspiration, 
giving to the Hebrews of old all, and more than 



LIGHT 127 

all, the fullness of the modern thought of one 
force in Nature, made this inscrutable and uni- 
versal element the very breath of the presence 
of Him in whom all things live, and move, and 
have their being. This mysterious element is 
thus made the symbol of the Creating Word of 
God, who, incarnate in the form of man, is the 
Brightness of the Father's Glory. That which 
is revealed of the presence and work of this ele- 
ment in the material creation makes it the most 
fitting image of Christ the Lord in the spiritual 
creation. When it is said in the New Testa- 
ment, 'In Him was Life and the Life was Light 
of men,' that statement is made in a revelation 
which commences in the very words that begin 
the Old Testament, and which throughout point- 
edly refers to the record of the Creation and 
borrows this figure from it." All the language 
of the New Testament, referring to light, is 
conformed to this image, and is the recurrence 
of very similar language in the Old Testament. 
"In the Bible voice answers to voice though ages 
intervene." St. John reveals the truth that God 
is Light. David had a thousand years before 
chanted, ''The Lord is my Light." Does St. 
John speak of walking in the light as God is 
in the light? Isaiah cried, "Come, let us walk 
in the light of the Lord." Does St. James speak 
of God as the Father of lights? Of old it was 
written, "God said, Let there be light." Does 
St. Paul declare "God dwelleth in light un- 
approachable? In one of the psalms of ancient 
Israel is this utterance, "0 Lord, Thou coverest 



128 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Thyself with Light as with a garment." Jesus 
said, "I am the Light of the world." Of old 
it was said of Him, "I will set Thee for a light 
to the Gentiles; the people that sat in darkness 
saw a great Light; the Lord shall be unto thee 
an everlasting Light." 

While our Lord went about on the earth doing 
good, the Light that was in Him shone out in 
His words and works, in His pure and spotless 
life, and in the beauty and inspiration of His 
presence. "Never man spake like this Man" — 
never man lived and loved, and wrought like 
this Man. Yet He came unto His own and His 
own received Him not. The Light of the world 
was in the world, but the world knew It not. 
Men would not, could not see the Light that 
was in Him because they loved darkness rather 
than light, and the god of this world had blinded 
their eyes. Their wills were their own and they 
would not choose to make them God's will. They 
had power, and they used it to do as they willed. 
God never forces the will. Even while Jesus 
moved among men He was always mindful of 
the freedom of the will. He would not by over- 
powering evidence force men to believe on Him 
When from His inner life was going forth power, 
controlling the forces of Nature, healing the sick 
and raising the dead, He appeared to the eye as 
only a man among men. 

Only once, while in the flesh, did the hidden 
Light burst forth in overwhelming splendor, and 
three alone of His nearest disciples were found 
sufficiently spiritual to witness the manifesta- 



LIGHT 129 

tions of His glory. When the time drew near 
for this effluence of the Light that was in Him, 
Jesus took Peter and James and John and led 
them up into a high mountain apart by them- 
selves, above the din of earth's traffic and bab- 
ble, and nearer to the Heavens, to pray. And 
as He prayed He was transfigured before them, 
and His face did shine as the sun, even His 
raiment becoming radiant and exceeding white 
as the light. 

Faith is the evidence of things not seen, but 
on holy Mount Herman the glory in Jesus, which 
had only been seen by the eye of faith, was openly 
manifested to Peter, James and John, who be- 
held for the human race this appearing of our 
Lord in "the excellent glory," and heard the voice 
out of the cloud saying, "This is My beloved Son 
in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." For 
us this glorious appearing of our Lord, during 
His human life, is the symbol, the shadow of 
the Glory which He has with the Father in the 
High and Holy Place of the universe, and in 
which He will appear at His final coming "with 
the holy angels" when every eye shall behold 
Him. 

"The holy angels," ministers and messengers 
of the King invisible, more rapid probably in 
their transit from place to place than light it- 
self, ever manifest a lively interest in the wel- 
fare of humanity. They earnestly desire to look 
into the evolution of the Divine Government of 
men, and become willing agents in ministering 
to the spiritual needs and joys of the children 



130 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

of Light. "Are they not all ministering spirits 
sent forth to minister for them who shall be 
heirs of salvation?" The number of these mes- 
sengers in the Kingdom of Light is incalculable. 
"We are come unto an innumerable company of 
angels." St. John saw vast numbers of angels, 
on a great occasion, round about the throne of 
God, "and the number of them," he says, "was 
ten thousand times ten thousand" — a hundred 
millions — and then, as if oppressed with the idea 
of the vast number, he simply adds, "and thou- 
sands of thousands," which may stand for many 
hundreds of millions. They move unseen in the 
atmosphere of our world, ministering to the heirs 
of the Eternal Inheritance, and they also move 
in the glorious Light of Heaven, beholding the 
face of the King of Glory. When to the shep- 
herds abiding in the field near Bethlehem, keep- 
ing watch over their flocks by night, the Angel 
of the Lord appeared, the Glory of the Lord 
shone around them, and suddenly there was with 
the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host prais- 
ing God in the Light of the Glory that reveal- 
ed them to the shepherds. 

"The light is sweet." There is nothing hid- 
den from its sweet influence. As in the forming 
world light was the form-giving element, so in 
the producing world it is the tone-giving power. 
Light ministers pleasure to the senses and joy 
to the heart. It stores up sweetness in the 
fruits of the earth, diffuses health through the 
air we breathe, and pours refreshing taste into 
the cup of cold water. Light paints with roseate 



LIGHT 131 

hues the morning clouds and gilds with many 
a golden tint the evening sky; covers the fields 
with "enameled green" and the forests with em- 
erald and gold, touches the flowers with manifold 
hues and breathes into them sweet perfumes. 
"Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing 
it is to behold the sun." Therein we live, and 
move and work; acquire knowledge and wisdom, 
and obtain joy and gladness. 

In all its beauty and glory, however, the sweet 
light of Nature is but the shaded reflection of 
the glorious Light that illuminates the unseen 
world, and all light is the modified outshining 
of the Light of the Eternal Word, in whom all 
things were made and by whom the universe 
was illuminated. 

The prophecies of the Old Testament, concern- 
ing the Anointed One who was to come, all con- 
verge toward the thought of One who was tD 
come as a Light into the world. "Far off His 
coming shone." "Thy sun," said one of the 
prophets, "shall no more go down, neither shall 
thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall 
be thy everlasting Light." And when the last 
Old Testament prophet was born into the world, 
his father Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, 
prophesied of him, saying: 

"And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the 

Most High; 
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make 

ready His ways; 
To give knowledge of salvation to His people, 
In the remission of their sins, 
Because of the tender mercies of our God, 



132 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Wherein the Day-spring from on high shall visit us 
To shine upon them that sit in darkness and in the 

shadow of death, 
To guide our feet into the way of peace." 

When Mary, the Blessed Virgin, brought forth 
her first-born Son the Light of the Glory of the 
Lord shone about the shepherds, to whom the 
Angel announced His birth, and the Light of His 
Star guided the Magi to His cradle. During 
the presentation of the young Child in the Tem- 
ple, good old Simeon, to whom it had been re- 
vealed that he should not see death till he had 
seen the Lord's Anointed, took the Holy Child 
in his arms, blessed God and said: 

"Now lettest Thou thy servant depart, O Lord, 

According to Thy word, in peace, 

For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, 

Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, 

A Light for the unveiling of the Gentiles, 

And the glory of Thy people Israel." 

A hundred years after these events the Be- 
loved disciple said of his blessed Lord and Mas- 
ter, who came into the world a helpless babe 
and moved among men in fashion as a man, 
"There was the true light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." 

"Christ is the Light and the only Source of 
true light, and each human being must have 
either a mind blinded by the god of this world, 
bringing darkness and death, or Jesus Christ, 
His Light and Eternal Life." 

As the sunlight may become obscure by inter- 
vening clouds or veiled by the shades of night, 



LIGHT 133 

so the light of life may become clouded by sin 
or darkened by transgression until the eyes of 
the heart see not and the darkness of spiritual 
night overshadows the soul. St. Paul, compar- 
ing the glory of the law and the glory of the 
gospel, and referring to the veil over the face 
of Moses, which prevented the children of Israel 
from looking steadfastly upon that which was to 
pass away, says, "Their minds were blinded, and 
unto this day remaineth the same veil upon their 
heart untaken away in the reading of the Old 
Testament. But this veil," he further says, "is 
taken away in Christ." The heart that turns 
to the Lord turns toward the true Light, and 
the veil of sin is removed, so that in reading 
the Scriptures its words become luminous and 
reveal grace and truth to the unveiled heart. 
The veil, however, may rest upon the heart in 
reading the New Testament as well as the Old. 
"But if the gospel be veiled it is veiled to them 
that are perishing; in whom the god of this 
world hath blinded the minds of them that be- 
lieve not, lest the Light of the glorious Gospel 
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine 
unto them." 

St. Paul then, between the lines, indicates that 
the light of the gospel is not one of the lights 
of this world, that while it shines through earthly 
mediums its source is God. "For we preach not 
ourselves," he goes on to say, "but Christ Jesus 
the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' 
sake. Because God, who commanded the light 
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 



134 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But 
we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the 
excellency of the power may be of God and not 
of us." 

As the Kingdom of Christ is in the world, 
but not of the world, so the Light of His glorious 
Gospel shines, not upon the outer earthen ves- 
sels — not upon the tabernacles of clay in which 
we sojourn, but in our hearts, in the sanctuary 
of the spirit. The Divine Light in the Most Holy 
Place of the Tabernacle was the symbol of the 
Light that illumines every life that is set apart 
for the service of God. The tabernacle of flesh 
and blood may look rough and uncouth, weather- 
beaten and time-worn, while within is shining 
the sweet, life-giving, hope-inspiring Light of 
the Lord. Nor can the storms that beat upon 
the tabernacle, nor death that will finally take 
it down, either overshadow or extinguish the 
light that shines within; "for if this earthly 
house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have 
a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens," in which the light of 
life continues to shine on forever. 

During our pilgrimage on the earth we have 
this treasure, the light of the glorious gos- 
pel of Christ, in earthen vessels, in physically 
wrought bodies, that limit the free action of 
the spirit; yet, "the body is for the Lord," and 
we are required in obedience to "the law of the 
Spirit of life" to "glorify God in the body;" for 
when, through the grace of God, we "turn from 



LIGHT 135 

darkness to light," and "show forth the excel- 
lencies of Him who called us out of darkness 
into His marvelous light," these bodies, though 
still earthy, become temples of the Holy Spirit. 
These earthen vessels are thus consecrated to 
holy service, and while we strive earnestly and 
faithfully in well-doing we "shine as lights in 
the world." The indwelling light, however, does 
not change these material bodies. They remain 
fleshly and mortal, though sometimes becoming 
more beautiful, for through them the inner light 
shines out in an upright walk and a chaste con- 
versation, in love and good works ; "for the fruit 
of the Light is in all goodness, and righteous- 
ness, and truth." 

God our Father wants His children to be par- 
takers of His holiness, to be sharers in His bless- 
edness. "Therefore, He saith, awake thou that 
sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ 
will shine upon thee." As God dwells in the 
Light so He would have us dwell in the Light, 
and "have no fellowship with the unfruitful 
works of darkness." "Eye hath not seen," said 
the prophet, "nor ear heard, neither have en- 
tered into the heart of man the things which 
God hath prepared for them that love Him." 
"But God," says St. Paul, "hath revealed them 
unto us by His Spirit." It is our privilege to 
live in the Light of the Holy Spirit, the Revealer 
and Comforter. St. Paul says to the saints in 
Ephesus, "Ye were once darkness, but are now 
light in the Lord; walk as children of light, 
proving what is well pleasing to the Lord." 



136 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

With this accords the language of St. John: "If 
we say that we have fellowship with God and 
walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; 
but if we walk in the Light as He is in the 
Light we have fellowship one with another, and 
the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." 

For those who are thus made meet to be par- 
takers of the inheritance of the saints in Light, 
"to die is gain." To them the even-tide of life 
shall be light, and with peace and joy they sha'l 
pass over the line between the seen and the un- 
seen worlds into "the place prepared for them" 
by the Lord; where "there is no need of the 
sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it, for 
the Glory of God illuminates it, and the Light 
thereof is the Lamb." 



LOVE 



God is love, and he that abideth in love abideth 
in God, and God abideth in him. 

—1 John 4:16. 



This is Love, that we should walk after His 
Commandments. 

— 2 John, verse 6. 



Thou hidden Love of God whose height, 
Whose depth unfathomed no man knows! 

I see from far thy beauteous light, 
Inly I sigh for thy repose; 

My heart is pained, nor can it be 

At rest till it finds rest in thee. 

— Tersteegen. 



Love proves its spiritual origin by rising above 
time and space and circumstances, wealth and 
age, and even temporary beauty, at the same 
time that it alone can perfectly use all these 
material adjuncts. Being spiritual, it is the lord 
of matter and can give and receive from it glory 
and beauty when it will, and yet live without it. 
— Charles Kingsley. 



VIII 
LOVE 

The four cardinal virtues of the ancients were 
Temperance, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude. To 
these Christianity added three — Faith, Hope, 
Love. Of these seven the greatest is Love. 

Love has always been placed in the category 
of the virtues. A careful study of the subject, 
however, raises in the mind a very strong doubt 
concerning the correctness of this classification. 
Is Love, like the virtues, merely a moral quality 
or property, or is it something more substan- 
tial? Is it not an essence — a spiritual substance 
that underlies and gives character and tone to 
the virtues? 

Two things, Life and Light, are naturally as- 
sociated in the mind with Love. Life has al- 
ways been considered by scientists and philoso- 
phers, inclined toward materialism, as a quality 
or property of matter, and by those who lean 
toward vitalism, as an energy or force, called 
therefore the "vital force." There are some 
philosophers, however, who consider Life a sub- 
stance. This view accords with the teaching 
of the Bible. Light also is coming to be re- 
garded, not as a mode of motion, according to 
the wave theory, but as a force or substance, 
according to the Electro-magnetic theory, mani- 
festing power in various ways, dependent on 
given conditions. This view also agrees with 



140 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the teaching of the Written Revelation. Love 
also, in its ultimate analysis, will be found to 
be an energing substance. 

It is not said of God in His Holy Word that 
He is temperance, or prudence, or justice, or 
fortitude; or that He is faith, or hope; but it 
is affirmed of Him that He is Life, that He is 
Light, that He is Love. Now God is not con- 
stituted of qualities or properties. He is Sub- 
stance — the self-existent Substance — the Sub- 
stance of substances — the Creator and Upholder 
of all things, in whom all things stand together 
and move in harmony; and since Life, Light and 
Love are elements in the Being of Diety, they 
must be substances — not qualities or properties 
of a substance, nor modes of an energy or force. 
They have qualities and powers of their own. 

In the conversation at Jacob's well with the 
woman of Samaria, concerning the place and 
mode of worshiping the Father, Jesus revealed 
to her that God is Spirit, and that they who 
worship Him acceptably, must worship in spirit 
and truth. God is the Eternal Spiritual Sub- 
stance, who was before all things that exist in 
time and space, who supports and orders a'l 
things, who is in and through all things, visible 
and invisible, spiritual and material. Now if 
with this statement of our Lord we associate 
those final revelations, made through the be- 
loved disciple, that God is Life, Light, Love, our 
ideas of the nature of God will become illu- 
mined and enlarged. God will be in our thought 
and love, not only the incomprehensible, infinite 



LOVE 141 

Power of the universe, but also the living, shin- 
ing, loving Personal Father whose Name is red- 
olent with loving service and worship. 

Life, Light and Love seem also to be essen- 
tial elements of our being. Take away any one 
of them and you deprive us of something that, 
in some way, affects our identity. Take away 
life and the body is left a corpse; "If the light 
that is in thee become darkness," said Jesus, 
"how great is that darkness;" and if love die 
out of the soul, the individual becomes a fiend. 
These facts point to the Divine likeness in our 
constitution. God made man in His own image 
— breathed unto him the breath of Life, illu- 
mined his spirit by placing therein a Light from 
the "Eternal Beam," and completed the image 
by uniting with Life and Light His everlasting 
Love. Composed thus of these three Divine ele- 
ments, the image of God in man was crowned 
with the qualities of righteousness and true 
holiness. 

Thorough scientific investigation will, on these 
questions as it has on others, finally reach an 
agreement with the Sacred Scriptures. On what- 
ever subject, therefore, the conclusions of sci- 
ence and the plain teaching of the Bible seem 
to differ, it is wiser to accept the instruction 
of the Written Revelation and wait till science, 
in her interpretation of the Revelation made in 
Nature, arrives at the advanced position held 
by the Word of God; for, as James D. Dana 
says, "There can be no real conflict between 
the two Books of the Great Author. Both are 



142 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Revelations made by Him to man — the earlier 
telling of God-made harmonies, coming up from 
the deep past and rising to their height when 
man appeared; the latter teaching man's rela 
tion to his Maker and speaking of loftier har- 
monies in the eternal future." 

There is no subject in the Bible probably, so 
thoroughly analyzed and so elaborately treated 
as that of Love. In the first epistle to the 
Corinthians, twelfth chapter, St. Paul, after 
speaking of various spiritual gifts and exhorting 
the brethren to desire earnestly the greater gifts, 
declares, "a still more excellent way show I unto 
you," and then proceeds in that wonderful thir- 
teenth chapter to make an estimate of love by 
comparing it with the greatest gifts and the 
greatest self-sacrifices known among men; after 
which he makes an analysis of love, and closes 
by showing its unfailing and abiding character. 

St. Paul does not, in pointing out the more 
excellent way, even mention the gifts considered 
great among men. He only notices those that 
have always been held in the highest esteem. 
"If I speak," he declares, "with the tongues of 
men and of angels, but have not Love, I am 
become as sounding brass or a clanging cym- 
bal." Eloquence, apart from love, is here classed 
by the apostle among mere sounds. Continuing 
the comparison, he says: "And if I have the 
gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all 
knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to re- 
move mountains, but have not love, I am noth- 
ing." John Wesley used to say, "An ounce of 



LOVE 143 

Love is worth a pound of knowledge." When 
in Sir Walter Scott's presence some one spoke 
of literary talents and accomplishments as if 
they were above all things to be esteemed and 
honored, he exclaimed: "God help us! What 
a poor world this would be if that were the 
true doctrine! I have read books enough, and 
observed and conversed with many eminent and 
splendidly cultured minds in my time, but I as- 
sure you that I have heard higher sentiments 
from the lips of poor uneducated men and 
women, when exerting the spirit of severe yet 
gentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, 
or speaking their simple thoughts as to circum- 
stances in the lot of friends and neighbors, than 
I ever met with, out of the Bible. We shall 
never learn to feel and respect our real calling 
and destiny unless we have taught ourselves to 
consider everything as moonshine compared with 
the education of the heart." Heart culture, or 
education in the school of Love is here rightly 
placed before intellectual training, and the latter 
without the former is justly considered a cold, 
pale light. "Knowledge puffeth up," says St. 
Paul, "but Love buildeth up." Finally the emp- 
tiness of good works and self-sacrifice, apart 
from Love, is declared by the great apostle. "If 
I bestow all my goods to feed the poor," he af- 
firms, "and if I give my body to be burned, but 
have not Love, it profiteth me nothing." Ac- 
cording to Paul, he who speaks with the tongue 
of eloquence, but is not moved by Love, is only 
a cold, sounding instrument; he who possesses 



144 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the gifts of prophecy and faith, and understands 
all mysteries and all knowledge, but feels not 
the mellowing power of Love, is nothing; and 
he who bestows all his goods in charity, and 
exhausts even his life in self-sacrifice, but is 
not actuated by love, is nothing profited. Love 
is an essential part of God's Being and moves 
His heart in the execution of all His works, 
and so essential is it in the human soul that 
without it our most highly esteemed works are 
merely like the action of cold machinery. There 
is no spiritual value in them. There can be no 
spiritual worth without love. Love is the great 
thing — the essential thing — the "one thing need- 
ful." 

Having placed love in the supreme position 
among the most highly esteemed and honored 
things of this world, Paul proceeds to make an 
analysis of his subject: "Love sufFereth long; 
is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not it- 
self, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself 
unseemly; seeketh not its own; is not provoked; 
taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in un- 
righteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth." In 
this anaylsis we find nine of the virtues: Pa- 
tience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, 
unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness, right- 
mindedness or sincerity. That which gives 
merit to these qualities and makes them virtues 
is Love, existing, or acting under differing con- 
ditions. 

Patience is love passive, love waiting. 

Kindness is love active, love doing good. 



LOVE 145 

Generosity is love rejoicing in the welfare of 
others, and helping them on their way. 

Humility is love veiling her face. 

Courtesy is love behaving with grace and 
beauty. 

Unselfishness is love forgetting herself while 
doing for others. 

Good-temper or forbearance, is love making 
the temper sweet, love keeping the temper under 
control. 

Guilelessness or innocence is love without sus- 
picion, love putting the best construction on the 
conduct of others. 

Right-mindedness, or sincerity, is love rejoic- 
ing in righteousness and with the truth as 
against falsehood. 

When this synthesis of the virtues, in which 
also belong all other virtues, is examined, it 
will not seem very wonderful that "love bear- 
eth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
things, endureth all things," and we shall be 
able to understand more clearly that deep utter- 
ance of the apostle : "Love is the fulfilling of 
the law." This statement is beautifully illus- 
trated in the following picture of love in the 
ten commandments: 

"Supreme love to God can have no other gods. 

Love resents every effort to represent its object as bird, 

or beast or serpent. 
Love never dishonors God's name by taking it in vain. 
Love moves us to reverence the Lord's day. 
Love makes home happy. 
Love can never kill. 
Lust, not love, breaks the seventh commandment. 



146 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Love prevents lying lips, love stops the voice of slander. 

Love will give but never steal. 

Love has no oovetous eye for its neighbor's possessions." 

"Love one another, even as I have loved you," 
was the new commandment of Jesus. "Chris- 
tianity lays down no code of detailed precepts; 
it rather seeks to imbue the minds of its dis- 
ciples with one great principle of Love, which, 
if fully and clearly apprehended, must embrace 
in itself all precepts. It abolishes the law of 
ordinances contained in commandments; but it 
abolishes them as the one blaze of sunshine abol- 
ishes the many lights of the solar system; it 
takes up the separate rules into the one law of 
Love." 

Love rejoices in doing good, and "worketh 
no ill to its neighbor." Conformity to law is 
no restraint upon love, for it is rendered with 
voluntary and joyous obedience in the use of all 
the virtues that the law demands. The obedi- 
ence of love is spontaneous, because love is the 
substance of which every virtue that the law 
requires is a quality. We find here also an ex- 
planation of another of Paul's profound utter- 
ances: "Love is the bond of perfection." It 
is that in which all the virtues, as qualities, in- 
here; the girdle that holds them together; the 
seal that gives them their value; and since the 
virtues make perfection and love is the bond that 
holds them together, "Love is the bond of per- 
fection." 

St. Paul, after stating some of its qualities, 
gives his reason for selecting love as the su- 



LOVE 147 

preme possession, the highest good. It is a very- 
simple, yet very wonderful reason ; Love endures, 
unchanged in a world of changes and transitory 
values. "Love," Paul urges, "never faileth." 
Then he reviews from another position his list 
of the great things of his time, which men 
thought were going to last, and shows that they 
are all temporary. The things that are highly 
esteemed among men are in a state of perpet- 
ual change and shall finally pass away. Proph- 
ecies have already largely passed away, and 
those not yet fulfilled will be done away as the 
future history of the world becomes a record 
of the past. "Whether there be prophecies they 
shall fail." Languages have ceased to be spoken. 
Even the tongue in which Paul wrote is no longer 
a living language. The gift of tongues ended 
with the apostolic age. "Whether there be 
tongues they shall cease." Our forms of knowl- 
edge are passing away. Much that is reckoned 
valuable in one generation is pushed aside as 
worthless in the following age. "Whether there 
be knowledge it shall vanish away." We are 
only children in knowledge. We know in part, 
and that a small part, and our language is im- 
perfect, but when that which is perfect is come, 
then that which is in part shall be done away, 
and we shall see clearly, and know fully, and 
speak perfectly. Through all these changes one 
thing endures unchanged. "Love never faileth," 
and when that which is perfect has taken the 
place of the imperfect, love will forever move 
heart and intellect in eternal activity. 



148 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

There is in nature the inscrutable force, called 
by men the attraction of gravitation, by which all 
bodies and all particles of matter mutually tend 
toward each other. This marvelous power bal- 
ances the mountains and holds the seas within 
their appointed bounds, keeps the countless 
worlds revolving in their orbits through the 
depths of space and maintains the equilibrium 
and harmony of the material universe. Similar 
is the power of love in the spiritual world. With 
"bands of love" the Creator draws His children 
to Himself and toward one another. Love is the 
attracting force that maintains harmony in the 
moral government of God. If "the love of the 
Spirit" ruled in human hearts the will of our 
Father who is in the heavens would be done 
in earth as it is in heaven, and righteousness, 
peace, and joy would reign among men. In 
heaven, where love reigns, there is no discord. 
The harmony and blessedness thereof flow on un- 
broken forever. Love controls every emotion, 
every impulse, every volition. Countless mil- 
lions of the heavenly hosts unite their voices, 
without a discordant note, before the Throne of 
Him that liveth forever and ever, saying, 
"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to re- 
ceive the glory, and the honor and the power; 
for Thou didst create all things, and because of 
Thy Will they were and were created." Their 
love fills heaven with praise, and moral harmony, 
and spiritual beauty; and even extends down to 
the children of men. "There is joy before the 
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 



LOVE 149 

But what concerns us most is the evolution 
and practical use of love in our own lives. 
"Things that are no longer used become useless. 
A doctrine must rule the life. It should not take 
the position of an idle king, who does not govern ; 
it must remain in force ; it cannot be inoperative. 
In the world of the spirit one does not live upon 
the interest of former investments. There must 
be daily striving. We must pray, 'Give us this 
day our daily bread.' " We must wait on God 
and work and thrive ; we must 

"Think that day lost whose low, descending sun 
Views from our hands no noble action done." 

Running over again in our minds the qualities 
ascribed by Paul to love we find that they are 
every-day virtues. They can be practiced by 
every individual of every calling. They all relate 
to man, to the present life, to the known today, 
not to the unknown eternity. "We hear much of 
love to God; Christ spoke much of love to man. 
We make a great deal of peace with heaven; 
Christ made much of peace on earth." Love to 
God is our first duty. Love to man follows, and 
is evidence of our love to God. Religion is not 
a strange nor added something. It is the inspir- 
ation of the secular life, the breathing of the 
eternal spirit of love through this temporary 
world. John Wesley said: "Men talk much of 
happiness with God in heaven, but the idea of 
being happy with God on earth never enters their 
minds." 

Let us look a little while at the practical work- 



150 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

ing of love through each of the qualities ascribed 
to it by Paul. 

Patience is Love passive, love resigned under 
affliction, or bereavement, or disappointment; 
biding its time; calm amid adverse conditions; 
waiting to do good as opportunity offers, ever 
wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 
Love confides in God, the almighty, all-loving, 
Father, and therefore waits. 

Kindness is love active, love doing good, adding 
to the happiness and peace of others. Much of 
the life of Jesus was spent in doing kind things, 
in making people happy. He went about doing 
good. The quality of kindness is not strained. 
It blesses him that gives and him who receives. 
Our Heavenly Father is kind even to the unthank- 
ful. "Love, and live for others." 

Generosity is love rejoicing in the welfare of 
others, and if need be, helping them on their way. 
Love is magnanimous. "This is love," says 
Henry Drummond, "in competition with others. 
Whenever you attempt a good work you will find 
other men doing the same kind of work, and 
probably doing it better. Envy them not. Envy 
is a feeling of ill-will toward those who are In 
the same line as ourselves, a spirit of covetous- 
ness and detraction. How little is even christian 
work a protection against un-christian feeling. 
The most despicable of all unworthy moods that 
cloud a Christian soul assuredly waits for us or 
the threshold of every work, unless we are for- 
tified with the grace of magnanimity." "Love 
envieth not." 



LOVE 151 

Humility is love veiling her face. Love does 
not seek to make a display of her beautiful work. 
Good deeds and kind words are kept from the 
public eye. Love seeks only the honor that comes 
from above; from Him who rewards in the light. 
"Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." 

Courtesy is Love behaving with grace and 
beauty. It is love in society, love in relation to 
etiquette. Courtesy is said to be love in little 
things, and politeness has been defined as love in 
trifles. Love does not neglect the little things 
that make up so much of life's assets. "Love 
doth not behave itself unseemly." 

Unselfishness is Love forgetting herself while 
doing for others, giving up ease and comfort for 
her neighbor's welfare. "Love seeketh not her 
own." "Seekest thou great things for thyself?" 
asked the prophet, and then replied, "seek them 
not." Why not? Because there is no perma- 
nence in things, whether great or small. They 
cannot make character nor give peace. "Man's 
life does not consist in the abundance of the 
things he possesses." It consists in loving and 
serving. The only true greatness is unselfish 
love. 

Good-temper or Forbearance, is Love making 
the temper sweet, love keeping the temper under 
control. Love is not irritable. "Love is not pro- 
voked." "He that is slow to anger is better than 
the mighty; and he that ruleth his own spirit, 
than he that taketh a city." "He best keeps from 
anger," says Plato, "who remembers that God is 
always looking at him." Valpy says, "Learn 



152 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

from Jesus to love and to forgive. Let the blood 
of Jesus, which implores pardon for you in heav- 
en, obtain it from you for your brothers here 
upon earth." 

Guilelessness, or Innocence, is Love without 
suspicion, love putting the best construction on 
the conduct of others. Love is without guile. 
Guilelessness is the opposite of suspicion. In 
the cloudy atmosphere of suspiciousness the soul 
shrivels, and the disposition becomes sour and 
fault-finding; in that of innocence, men grow 
larger, find encouragement, and attain confi- 
dence. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is 
he." Even thinking evil of others reaets in pro- 
ducing narrowness and coldness of heart, and 
begets distrust. Thinking well of our fellow- 
men is a fountain of blessedness. "Love think- 
eth no evil." 

Right-mindedness, or Sincerity, is Love rejoic- 
ing in righteousness and truth. We all know 
how common it is for people to listen to distorted 
reports about others and to take pleasure in un- 
just criticisms and deductions against those who 
are not held in esteem. Detracting words are 
eagerly caught up, and any injustice floating on 
the tide of common report brings its morsel of 
satisfaction. The sincere man takes no part in 
these unrighteous reports. Love does not rejoice 
in that which wrongs others, and refuses to make 
capital of their faults. There is in love that sin- 
cerity of purpose that tries to see things as they 
are, to learn the truth of the whole matter, and 
rejoices when they are found better than preju- 



LOVE 153 

dice feared, or suspicion insinuated. "Love re- 
joiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with 
the truth." 

"Love is the crowning grace of humanity," 
says Petrarch, "the holiest right of the soul, the 
golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the 
redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the 
heart to life, and is prophetic of eternal good " 

Having pointed out the leading qualities of 
love and given it the supreme place among the 
great things to be desired and sought, Paul closes 
with an exhortation compressed into three 
words: "Follow after love." Eagerly desire, he 
seems to say, and earnestly strive to acquire love, 
as the chief good. Wealth, and power, and fame 
are not worthy of mention ; eloquence and knowl- 
edge, and intellectual endowments are poor and 
cold without love. Desiring earnestly the great- 
er gifts is commendable, but "following after 
love" is "a still more excellent way." 

How can we find and keep love? How can we 
have this Divine essence interpenetrating and en- 
thusing the soul, and moving mind and heart? 
A few of the virtues, the qualities of love, have 
been named, but these are only qualities. They 
do not constitute love; they only make virtue. 
Love is something more than the sum of all the 
virtues. It is a living, vitalizing essence, per- 
vading the soul, bringing every faculty and every 
impulse into harmony with God, and into sym- 
pathy with all that is true, and good and beauti- 
ful. Now, how can we have this living, spiritu- 
alizing power come into the soul? Shall we 



154 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

brace ourselves to secure it? Shall we try to 
copy the lives of those who have it? These 
efforts alone will never infuse love into our na- 
ture. Love comes as an effect. And only when 
we conform to the conditions can we secure the 
desired effect. Let us then endeavor to find the 
cause, so that we may know how to conform to 
the required conditions and secure the blessed 
effect. Christ's love begets love in our hearts. 
If we look to Him we must love. We cannot 
help it. Because He first loved us, the effect fol- 
lows that we love. We love God and all that God 
loves. Our hearts are changed, mellowed. Love 
has its beginning in the new life. It comes from 
above. It is generated in our hearts by the pow- 
er of Christ's love. "Contemplate the love of 
Christ and you will love. Stand before that mir- 
ror, reflect Christ's character and you will be 
changed into the same image from tenderness 
to tenderness. There is no other way. Look at 
the great sacrifice as He laid down Himself all 
through life and upon the Cross of Calvary; and 
you must love Him. And loving Him, you must 
become like Him. Love begets love." "Hereby 
know we love, because He laid down His life for 
us." 

To have the qualities of love fitted into the char- 
acter is the great business of life — the only busi- 
ness whose profits will survive the wrecks of 
time. Knowledge and wealth puff up their pos- 
sessors, but love builds up character, strengthen- 
ing and beautifying it for eternity. To learn 



LOVE 155 

love then is the supreme work to which we are 
called in this old world. 

"For life with all it yields of joy or woe, 
And hope and fear, 
Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love." 

Life is full of opportunities for learning and 
cultivating love. The poor — the poor in spirit 
as well as the poor in this world's goods — are 
always with us. Those who need help and sym- 
pathy meet us all along life's pathway. For in- 
tellect, and heart, and hand there is plenty of 
work. No man need live to himself, and no man 
can live for himself alone without wronging his 
own soul. The world is a schoolroom, not a play- 
ground; life is an education, not a holiday; and 
the great lesson for us to learn is how to love 
more ardently and practically. "Let us not love- 
in word," says St. John, "neither with the tongue, 
but in deed and truth." Power to love, like 
other faculties, is developed and strengthened by 
practice. If one fails to use his muscles, he de- 
velops no strength in them ; if he declines to exer- 
cise the mind, he evokes no mental force; and if 
he does not discipline his soul he acquires no vig- 
or of soul fibre, no strength of moral character, 
no beauty of spiritual life. Love is not evoked 
simply by enthusiastic emotion. It is the rich, 
strong, kind, tender, glowing expression of the 
symmetrical Christian character — the Christ-like 
nature in its fullest development in human life. 
And the qualities of love that form this beautiful 
character can only be fitted into our lives and per- 
fected by ceaseless practice. 



156 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Love produces confidence. Faith works 
through love. Confidence is the opposite of fear. 
Hence there is no fear in love. Perfect love casts 
out fear. He who fears is not made perfect in 
love. God is love. He who dwells in love, dwells 
in God and God in him. To love is to live. To 
love God is to live and confide in God; and since 
He is the God of truth, whose promises are yea 
and amen, whose power and wisdom are infinite, 
whose love never fails, he who is made perfect in 
love must enjoy perfect confidence and stand fast 
undisturbed by fear. He has the assurance that 
God is able and willing to do for him "exceeding 
abundantly above all that he can ask and think." 
His trust is in Jesus, the Christ, who has all pow- 
er in heaven and in earth, and hence there is no 
cause for fear. 

"And now abideth faith, hope, Love; these 
three, but the greatest of these is Love." "We 
will give ourselves to many things. Let us give 
ourselves first to Love. Hold things in their pro- 
portional value. Let at least the first great ob- 
ject of our lives be to achieve the character — 
and it is the character of Christ — which is built 
around Love." When we have achieved this 
character our lives will reflect the Beauty of 
God. 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 



God so loved the world that He gave His only 
begotten Son. 

— John 3:16. 



He who spared not His own Son, but delivered 
Him for us all, how shall He not also with 
Him freely give us all things? 

— Romans 8:32. 



God's sovereignty is not in His right hand; 
God's sovereignty is not in His intellect; God's 
sovereignty is in His love. 

— Henry Ward Beecher. 



Of the systems above us, angelic and seraphic, 
we know little; but we see one law, simple, effi- 
cient and comprehensive as that of gravitation — 
the law of Love — extending its sway over the 
whole of God's dominions, living where He lives, 
embracing every movement in its universal au- 
thority and producing the same harmony, where 
it is obeyed, as we observe in the movements of 
Nature. 

— Mark Hopkins. 



The law of Heaven is Love. 

— Hosea Ballou. 



IX 

THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 

In the preceeding paper we briefly considered 
the nature and office of Love. We found that St. 
Paul gave the supreme place to Love, that he set 
it first among the greatest things of this world. 
Now, where shall we look for the supremacy of 
Love? Shall we find it anywhere or any when 
in this old world? 

"Love's holy flame forever burnetii; 
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth; 
Too oft on earth a troubled guest; 
Sometimes deceived, sometimes oppressed, 
It hath in heaven its perfect rest. 
It soweth here in toil and care, 
The harvest time of love is there." 

The time has not yet come among the nations 
and the clans of the earth, nor even among in- 
dividuals, in which might has ceased to make 
right. The old cry of "man's inhumanity to 
man" still echoes along the corridors of the ages, 
and the complaint of oppression and injustice 
is still heard above the turmoil of business and 
the din of the workshop. In this desert of so- 
cial indifference, oppression, and hatred there 
are, however, many cheering and refreshing 
oases where Love reigns and sweetly dispenses 
her blessings. 

Apparently also there is a malevolent influence 
in Nature; for though the worlds above and 



160 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

around us move in unbroken harmony, the earth 
exhibits many phenomena that seem not to come 
under the supremacy of love. The sun shines, 
it is true, on the evil and the good, and the rain 
falls upon the just and the unjust, but the pesti- 
lence also walketh in darkness and the destruc- 
tion wasteth at noonday. Our world is not what 
it ought to be — not what it was designed and cre- 
ated to be. "An enemy hath done this" — hath 
sowed the seeds of evil and sin. 

To study the Supremacy of Love we must open 
the Bible and learn what the Sacred Scriptures 
teach, for they alone reveal God's love. In the 
things which are made we find lessons on infinite 
power and infinite wisdom, but only in the Writ- 
ten Word do we find the unfolding of infinite 
Love. 

Taking a wide view of our subject, we include 
in it the revealed facts that Love is the ruling 
power in the Heart of God, and that His benefi- 
cent law requires the Supremacy of Love in the 
hearts of men. Bearing in mind these two lines 
of thought, let us seek to learn, in the first place, 
what the Bible teaches on the Supremacy of Love 
among men, and then, in the second place, what 
it reveals concerning the Supremacy of Love in 
God. 

What does the Bible teach relative to the ruling 
power of love in our hearts and lives? On the 
plains of Moab, near the sacred Jordan, Moses, 
in the Name of the Lord, called unto all Israel 
and said unto them; "Hear, O Israel; Jehovah is 
our God, Jehovah is One; and thou shalt love 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 161 

Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy might;" and to this 
was added elsewhere : "Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself." These laws, in the creation of 
man, were engraved by the finger of God upon the 
sensitive tablet of his heart, and therefore they 
are natural laws, but being sadly defaced by sin, 
they need re-inforcement through indirect enact- 
ment in human language. On these two com- 
mandments, taught Jesus, hang all the law and 
the prophets. Here we have the ground-work, 
the essential principle of all moral and spiritual 
law — supreme love to God, and love to our neigh- 
bor equal to, and in some exigencies even greater 
than, that which we have for ourselves. 

Jesus let His Light shine through these com- 
mandments, as He did through others, and thus 
revealed their true spirit, lifted them out of the 
rubbish that selfishness and hypocrisy had heap- 
ed around them, and set them in their own beau- 
tiful light. "A new commandment give I unto 
you," said Jesus to His disciples, "that ye love 
one another." Why new? Was not "Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thself" as old as the Mosaic 
Code? Was it not written by the loving hand 
of the Creator on the tablet of the first human 
heart? Jesus made a new promulgation of the 
law of love with a deeper significance. He not 
only breathed into the commandment a new 
spirit, but also gave it a new form — "Love one 
another" — and this form was used by the apos- 
tles. St. Paul says, "ye are taught of God to love 
one another," and St. Peter, who doubtless knew 



162 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the spirit and import of the new commandment, 
exhorts the brethren to "love one another from 
the heart fervently." The new commandment 
requires a glowing love. And according to St. 
James, the Lord's brother, it must "not have res- 
pect to persons." It must glow in the heart to- 
ward the poor as well as the rich, the lowly, as 
well as the exalted, the ignorant as well as the 
wise. 

Jesus also made obedience to this new com- 
mandment the badge of discipleship. "By this 
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye have love one to another." This royal law 
was so loyally obeyed during the primitive years 
of Christianity, and the hearts of the disciples 
were so warmly "knit together in love," that 
among their enemies it was a matter of common 
remark: "See how these Christians love." 

Jesus also erects a higher standard of love than 
that of the Mosaic Code. The old command- 
ment said : "As thyself, thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor." Jesus, in the new commandment says: 
"Even as I have loved you, ye also shall love one 
another." Greater love hath no man than this, 
that a man lay down his life for his friends, but 
so great was the love of Jesus that he laid down 
his life for the whole world — many enemies and 
few friends. St. Paul holds up this standard to 
the Ephesians : "Walk in love," he says, "even as 
Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for 
you, an offering and a sacrifice to God." The 
Lord has here given us the supreme standard of 
love. 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 163 

We come now to learn what the Bible teaches 
concerning the Supremacy of love in God. "God 
is love," teaches the Beloved disciple. God is the 
Fountain of life ; God is the Center of light ; God 
is the Source of love. When our hearts are aglow 
with the love of God then our eyes open to see 
everywhere, written in letters of light upon the 
things that are made, the evidences of our 
Heavenly Father's care and tender regard for 
His children. It was of the unfathomed depth 
of God's love that a maniac with intellect clear 
on his theme wrote with charcoal on the wall of 
his cell : 

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, 
And were the skies of parchment made; 
Were every stalk on earth a quill, 
And every man a scribe by trade; 
To write the love of God above 
Would drain the ocean dry, 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 
Though stretched from sky to sky." 

Love is the motive power in the heart of God in 
the work of Creation, in the work of Preserva- 
tion, and in the work of Redemption. 

The four and twenty elders cast down their 
crowns before the Throne of Him that liveth for 
ever and ever, saying: "Worthy art Thou, our 
Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the 
honor, and the power, for Thou didst create all 
things, and because of Thy Will they were and 
were created." Answering to this voice of later 
Scripture there is another from the Old Scrip- 
tures: "Blessed be Thy glorious name, which is 
exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou art 



164 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the Lord, even Thou alone ; Thou hast made heav- 
en, the heaven of heavens, with all their host; 
the earth and all things that are thereon ; the seas 
and all that is in them ; and Thou preservest them 
all; and the host of heaven worshipeth Thee." 
Let us join with these two a third voice from the 
Bible: "The Lord is good to all, and His tender 
mercies are over all His works." These texts 
voice the concurrent teaching of all the books and 
letters of the Bible. 

The evils with which our world is disturbed 
seem, however, to contradict the teaching of 
God's Written Revelation. But the contradiction 
is only a seeming one, and a little careful study of 
what God has revealed in the Bible will harmon- 
ize the apparent discord between His works and 
His Written Word. 

When the work of Creation was completed, at 
the close of the sixth great day, "God saw every- 
thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very 
good." From this judgment and testimony of 
the Creator, who is the God of truth, we learn 
that the world as it came from His forming hand 
was not only "good" but "very good." And this 
was the quality that was ascribed to every thing 
that was made, visible and invisible, without 
exception. 

After this glorious consummation of the Crea- 
tive Work, an enemy to God and man sowed the 
seeds of sin that brought forth and is still bring- 
ing forth the evils from which the whole world 
suffers. Through temptation from this arch- 
enemy of the human race came "man's first diso- 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 165 

bedience and the mortal taste of the forbidden 
fruit" which brought death into the human fam- 
ily and "all our woe." Out of that disobedience 
have come "thorns and thistles, toil and sorrow," 
disease and death, and the destructive results 
that often attend the perverted, violent action of 
the forces of nature. 

Man was made to "have dominion over the fish 
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every 
creeping (prowling) thing that creepeth upon the 
earth." Now in this original grant was doubt- 
less included dominion over the forces or powers 
of nature, for it extended "over all the earth." 
And these forces were designed to be so per- 
fectly under man's control that no accident 
would have been possible. Heat, light, and elec- 
tricity would have been under his complete do- 
minion and skill, and would have served him 
without any possibility of accident. He who 
stands above the forces that propel the sweeping 
hurricane, and whirl the destructive cyclone, 
would have so tempered the winds that they 
would have been gentle zephyrs, and would have 
brought only health and refreshing showers. 
Eden, as the human family, increased, and their 
needs enlarged, would have become extended over 
the earth, and the whole world, in due time, 
would have become a paradise. This Divine- 
given power and blessedness man largely lost 
through disobedience and consequent degenera- 
tion ; and now it is only as he rises in knowledge 
and righteousness by obedience to the Divine 



166 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

laws, written in his nature and enforced by the 
Revealed Word of God, that he is regaining the 
dominion over the earth that was his originally 
by direct grant of the Creator. 

Wars among animals, in our geological age of 
the earth, as well as wars among men, are the 
effects of the mortal taste of the forbidden fruit. 
They are all the fruits of man's violation of law — 
the outcome of perverted free-agency. 

The prophet Isaiah describes a time, in the 
future, of great peace and righteousness, when 
"the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf 
and the young lion and the f atling together ; and 
a little child shall lead them. And the cow and 
the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie 
down together; and the lion shall eat straw like 
the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the 
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put 
his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt 
nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the 
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, 
as the waters cover the sea." This prophecy 
doubtless embodies a spiritual element, referring 
to the mediatorial reign of the Prince of Peace. 
It seems also to describe a time in the distant 
future when peace and love shall reign, not only 
among men, but also among the lower orders of 
the living world. 

This prophetic description is also a picture of 
the original state of man and his inferior compan- 
ions; for it is written: "The Lord God brought 
every beast of the field and every fowl of the 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 167 

air to the man to see what he would call them. 
And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the 
fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field." 
Quietly they came to the man and they "did not 
hurt nor destroy" in all that holy place. No 
prowling beasts nor birds of prey disturbed the 
peace of their helpless neighbors. All subsisted 
upon the supplies of the vegetable world, accord- 
ing to the grant of their Creator given to the man 
in the form following: "Behold I have given you 
every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face 
of all the earth, and every tree in which there is 
the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall 
be for meat: and to every beast of the earth, 
and to every fowl of the air and to every thing 
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there 
is life, I have given every green herb for meat." 
This golden age, after the change wrought in man 
by his alienation from his Maker and Lord, pass- 
ed away. Flesh was eventually granted for food, 
and fear and dread supplanted love and confi- 
dence in the animal world. The changed state 
of man's nature wrought deleterious changes in 
his external conditions, affecting the harmony 
and well-being of the whole world, and causing 
through all the cycles of history the disharmony 
so forcibly described by St. Paul : "For the earn- 
est expectation of the creation waiteth for the 
revealing of the sons of God. For the creation 
was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but 
by reason of Him who subjected it in hope; be- 
cause the creation itself shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the 



168 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

glory of the children of God. For we know that 
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth to- 
gether in pain until now. And not only so, but 
we ourselves also, who have the first fruits of 
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our- 
selves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the re- 
demption of our body." 

Sir William Dawson, after stating that "ma- 
terialistic evolution must ever and necessarily 
fail to account for the higher nature of man, and 
also for his moral aberrations," and that "these 
only come rationally into the system of nature 
under the supposition of a Higher Intelligence, 
from whom man emanates and whose nature he 
shares," says, "Christianity is in this respect not 
so much a revelation of the Supernatural as the 
highest bond of the great unity of nature. It re- 
veals to us the Perfect Man who is also one with 
God, and the mission of this Divine Man to restore 
the harmonies of God and humanity, and conse- 
quently of man with his natural environment in 
this world, and with his spiritual environment 
in the higher world of the future. If it is true 
that nature now groans because of man's de- 
pravity and that man himself shares in the evils 
of this disharmony with nature around him, it Is 
clear that if man could be restored to his true 
place in nature he would be restored to happiness 
and to harmony with God; and if, on the other 
hand, he can be restored to harmony with God 
he will then also be restored to harmony with 
his natural environment, and so to life, and hap- 
piness and immortality. 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 169 

"It is here that the old story of Eden, and the 
teaching of Christ, and the prophecy of the New 
Jerusalem strike the same note, which all materi- 
al nature gives forth when we interrogate it 
respecting its relations to man." 

From the mortal taste of the fruit of the for- 
bidden tree came also the diseases and the infirm- 
ities from which we suffer. 

We and our fathers, in a line all the way back 
to Adam, have sinned and brought evil upon our- 
selves. We have abused the Divine gift of free- 
agency, and in consequence of that abuse we 
suffer. We reap what we sow. If we sow "wild 
oats" we shall reap "wild oats," and if "we sow to 
the wind we shall reap the whirlwind." If we sow 
to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption ; 
but if we sow to the spirit we shall of the spirit 
reap life everlasting. 

God never violates the rights of the free-agent. 
He places before His wayward children induce- 
ments to do right. He persuades, He pleads, He 
woos, but He never drives. He follows His wan- 
dering, disobedient children with pleadings most 
tender, and with promises great and precious. 
Unto men He calls and His voice is to the sons of 
men. That warning, pleading, reassuring voice 
is heard in every disobedient heart, tenderly say- 
ing, when translated into human speech: "My 
son, do thyself no harm. Give Me thy heart, and I 
will keep thee in perfect peace amid the adverse 
conditions that sin has placed around thee. Cast 
thy burden upon Me and thou shalt find soul rest. 



170 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Walk in My ways, and thou shalt find life and 
dwell in My love." 

In one view of the case before us, we bring evil 
upon ourselves; in another view, God visits us 
with evil, but only as the natural outcome, or 
penalty, of violated law, and He causes the evils, 
under which we labor and suffer, to work together 
for good, when we return to Him, and become 
His obedient children. He so tempers them that 
in our patient endurance of them, we are made 
"meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
saints in light," and our light affliction which, 
compared with eternity, is but for a moment, 
is made to "work out for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory ; while we look not at 
the things which are seen, but at the things which 
are unseen." "God chastises in love for our 
profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.'' 

"For though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion 
according to the multitude of His mercies; 

For He doth not afflict willingly [from His heart — 
Hebrew], nor grieve the children of men." 

Sometimes amid the ills of life we become im- 
patient, and instead of bearing joyfully our suf- 
ferings, we complain, like Israel of old, that the 
Lord hath forsaken us, while the truth is we have 
forsaken the Lord: "But Zion said, Jehovah 
hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten 
me. Can a woman forget her sucking child 
that she should not have compassion on the son 
of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will 
I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 171 

upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are con- 
tinually before me." Here God's love for His 
rebellious children is declared to be above that 
of a mother for her babe; for though severe 
pressure may cause mother-love, the strongest in 
the human heart, to weaken, so that she may 
cease to have compassion on her child ; God's love 
never fails, and His heart ever rejoices over His 
children to do them good. He engraves, not 
merely their names, but themselves upon the 
palms of His hands, and so condescending is His 
love that it reaches down and enfolds the low- 
liest and humblest of earth. "For thus saith 
the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, 
whose name is Holy: I dwell in the High and 
Holy Place; with him also that is of a contrite 
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the hum- 
ble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 
"May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon 
us." 

If in the Creation and Preservation of the 
world, the power that moves the Arm of God is 
Love, how great must that Love be when it moves 
His Heart in the Work of Redemption ! 

The unfolding of the Work of Redemption 
manifests the Love of God in His long-suffering 
and forbearance, in His mercy and forgiveness, 
and in His readiness to enter into self-renuncia- 
tion and self-sacrifice to save the world. Had 
there been coldness or indifference in the Heart 
of the Eternal Father man would have been left 
to perish in his trespass and sin. But "so won- 
derfully kind is the Heart of the Eternal," that 



172 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

even "in the days of Eternity," before the heav- 
ens were "meted out," or the earth "was formed," 
the arduous Work of Salvation from sin and its 
direful effects, was planned, and when, "man's 
first disobedience" became a fact, went into 
effective operation. 

How little we think of the magnitude, of the 
Self-sacrifice, of the Priceless Cost of the Work 
of Redemption! In the Work of Creating, God 
spoke and it was done, He commanded and it 
stood fast, but in the Work of Saving man from 
sin and death God is represented as putting forth 
effort, as laboring in order to accomplish the pur- 
pose of His Heart. God has put forth infinite 
labor, at infinite cost, with infinite Self-sacrifice 
that man might be saved from sin and lifted up 
out of the darkness of death into the light of life. 
He has done all that justice and love required, all 
that it was possible to do without infringing up- 
on man's free-agency; and thus He places, in 
justice and love, upon every individual the re- 
sponsibility of performing his part of the Work, 
to wit, compliance with God's terms of peace 
and the working out of his salvation while God 
works in him to will and to work. 

So intimately related to the existence of sin 
is the Plan of Redemption that the prevalence 
of sin may be studied in the light of the Evo- 
lution of Redemption, and a reason more or less 
satisfactory may thus be found for the permis- 
sion of evil in our world. 

The origin and existence of evil have formed 
a perplexing and unsolvable problem among 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 173 

thinking people in all the ages. The most per- 
plexing phase of the question to the Christian 
mind is the permission of evil. Why did God 
permit sin to enter the world? Why did He 
not prevent so great a calamity ? These are ques- 
tions that we shall never be able, in this life 
at least, to solve. The answer is with the Cre- 
ator. The secret is His, and He has kept it 
unrevealed, not from unwillingness to make it 
known, but on account of our inability to com- 
prehend a subject so deep and so vast, even 
though explained to us in infinite wisdom. We 
are only children. As the heavens are higher 
than the earth, so are God's ways higher than 
our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. 
But whatever may be the Divine Purpose in 
allowing evil to enter the world, it must be 
granted that, according to the teaching of the 
Word of Revelation, it was permitted, not in 
malevolence — but in love; for God is Love, and 
love moved Him to create, and to uphold and 
govern. 

In studying closely the Divine history of re- 
demption a dim ray of light falls upon the un- 
solvable problem and enables us to see darkly 
why the Creator permitted a part of His work 
to be thus temporarily marred. The permission, 
it must be borne in mind, only allows a tempor- 
ary existence of evil, and this permitted period 
of time is only an infinitessimal segment of the 
immeasurable circle of eternity. "The Son of 
God was manifested that He might destroy the 
works of the devil" — the sin and the evils which 



174 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

he, our adversary, has wrought in the world. 
In the death and' resurrection of Christ the 
"prince of this world" is already judged and his 
time is short. 

The universe, existing in space and time, was 
completed in the Mind of the Creator before He 
commenced the Work of creating. He knew that 
the tares of sin would be sown in the human 
heart, and making this apparent defeat of the 
Divine Purpose the occasion of a higher Reve- 
lation of Himself than could be made in the un- 
folding of Creative Power, He ordained in the 
"days of eternity" the merciful work of salva- 
tion — the deliverance of the world from sin and 
its attendant evils. Hence, in the Sacred Scrip- 
tures the Deliverer and Savior, who is Christ the 
Lord, is spoken of as the "Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world," and "who verily was 
foreordained before the foundation of the world." 
"God manifested in the flesh" is, therefore, a 
part of the plan of the universe. Sin is thus 
made the occasional cause of the highest of the 
Divine Revelations. No words uttered from 
heaven, and no work of creation, wrought by 
the Eternal Father, could, as far as we can see, 
so portray to His children "the breadth and 
length, and depth and height" of God's love as 
the Divine Manifestation in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. He unveiled the beauty and the love of 
the Father in a human life. His mission, when 
He so humbled Himself as to dwell as a man 
on the earth, was not only to save us from our 
sins and to give us the light of life, but also 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 175 

to declare the "depth of the wisdom of God" 
and the extent of the love of God, to our world 
and to all worlds — to the Principalities, and 
Powers in heavenly places; and hence, when He 
came a helpless babe in little Bethlehem, "a'l 
the angels of God were commanded to worship 
Him." 

These holy messengers of the King Eternal, 
earnestly desiring to look into these things as 
they unfold to them His love and glory, fulfill 
with joy and grace their ministry, and worship 
with songs of praise or with covered face. They 
ministered to the Father's only begotten Son 
during His life on earth, announcing His advent, 
visiting Him while He was in the world, arid 
accompanying Him in His exit out of the world. 
Angels guided the movements of Jesus in infancy, 
ministered to Him during His temptations in 
the wilderness, sustained Him in the Garden of 
Gethsemane, guarded His tomb and rolled aside 
the great stone door when He arose from the 
dead. A cloud of angels accompanied Him in 
His ascension far above all heavens and hundreds 
of millions of angels, assembled from all parts 
of the universe, were circled around the Eternal 
Throne to welcome Him on His return to receive 
the Glory which He had with the Father before 
the world was; and they all united in "saying 
with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." 

Compared with the reception given to Jesus 



176 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

when He resumed His seat on the Throne erected 
in the High and Holy Place of the universe, the 
Columbian Exposition becomes a mere child's 
show, and the thrones and dominions of earth 
but glittering bubbles on the sea of time. 

From the brief consideration that we have 
now made of the Work of Redemption, it seems 
probable that the manifestation of the Eternal 
Father through our Lord Jesus Christ is the 
clearest, highest, fullest revelation of His good- 
ness and love that it is possible to make. We have 
no reason to suppose that there ever has been 
in the past, or that there ever will be in the 
future, a similar or higher unfolding of the Na- 
ture of Diety. "It stands amid the lapse of ages 
and the waste of worlds a single and solitary 
monument," and proclaims to the wondering and 
adoring universe the wisdom, and the love, and 
the glory of the Creator, as thought expressed 
in words and as Creative Power transformed 
into worlds could not. Jesus will evermore stand 
before all worlds as the highest Expression of 
the Beauty and Love of the Eternal God. 

"Without controversy, therefore, great is the 
mystery of Godliness ; God was manifested in the 
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, be- 
lieved on in the world, received up into glory." 
Jesus Christ, by whom all things were made, 
and in whom all things consist, through whom 
is made known the beauty, and the love, and the 
glory of God, is Lord of all and Savior of all. 
He illuminates all things and attracts all things. 
In this light how luminous becomes the declara- 



THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE 177 

tion of Jesus made a short time before He was 
lifted up on the Cross: "And I, if I be lifted 
up, will draw all unto Me" — all things, all men, 
all angels, all the principalities and powers in 
heavenly places. 



THE VOICE OF GOD 



Did ever people hear the Voice of God speaking 
out of the midst of the cloud, as thou hast heard, 
and live? 

— Deuteronomy 4:33. 



Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with 
you from heaven. 

— Exodus 20:22. 



The voice is the flower of beauty. 

— Zeno. 



How wonderful is the human voice! It is in- 
deed the organ of the soul! The intellect o\' man 
sits enthroned visibly upon his forehead and in his 
eye; and the heart of man is written upon his 
countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the 
Voice only, as God revealed Himself to the proph- 
ets of old, in "the still, small voice," and in the 
voice from the burning bush. The soul of man is 
audible, not visible. A sound alone betrays the 
flowing of the Eternal Fountain, invisible to man. 
— H. W. Longfellow. 



The voice is not merely so much air, but air 
modulated and impregnated with life. 

— Joubert. 



THE VOICE OF GOD 

It has been asserted in print, and even pro- 
claimed from the pulpit that "God's voice has 
never been heard in this world." One reason 
assigned for this dogmatic assertion is the fact 
recognized in Physics that sound can only be 
produced in a material medium by a material 
agent. God is spirit, and since sound can only 
be produced by an agent that is material, and 
conveyed to the fleshly ear through a medium 
that is also material, the conclusion is that God, 
being spirit, cannot speak so as to be heard, in 
our material atmosphere, by mortal ears. 

In the narrowness of our knowledge, and in 
the limited range of scientific investigation, this 
position may seem tenable, but it must be re- 
membered that "as the heavens are higher than 
the earth, so are God's ways higher than our 
ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts." We 
know nothing of the methods and instruments 
of communication between beings purely spir- 
itual. We are only cognizant of the laws of 
sound in this little world. Shall we then limit 
the Limitless One to the narrow sphere of our 
knowledge? Shall finite minds define the limit 
of things possible to the Infinite Mind? Leav- 
ing out of consideration the various methods 
that the wise and good Creator may have of 
communing with His intelligent creatures, let 



182 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

us fix our attention on one possible method of 
transmitting sound from spiritual lips, through 
a material medium, to non-spiritual ears. Who 
shall say that the Eternal Spirit cannot produce 
in our atmosphere the vibrations necessary to 
convey the sound of voice that He may wish to 
transmit to the human ear? He who made the 
air, can He not cause it to vibrate with sound? 
He who made the ear, can He not cause it to 
hear? An affirmative answer must be considered 
reasonable by the most skeptical. If God can 
cause in our air the waves of sound and trans- 
mit them to the material ear, the sensation of 
sound will be produced in the organs of hearing, 
telephoned by the auditory nerves to the centre 
of hearing, in the surface of the brain, perceived 
in the consciousness, and apprehended by the 
mind. 

Having now briefly shown that it is possible 
for God to talk with men through audible tones, 
or voice, let us turn to the Bible and try to as- 
certain whether any Revelations made therein 
were given in audible words. 

Revelations of the Divine Will have been made 
to men in various ways: "God having of old 
time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets, 
by divers portions and in divers manners, hath 
at the end of these days spoken unto us in His 
Son." We are at present concerned with but 
one of these methods. 

By the self-styled "more advanced" it is held 
that when the great law-giver of Israel used the 
expression, "The Lord spake unto Moses," the 



THE VOICE OF GOD 183 

speaking was only an "impression" made in his 
mind which he regarded and spoke of, as the 
"Voice of God" speaking to him. Were this view 
true, there would be no more authority in the 
law given by Moses than in the statements of 
Socrates, who obeyed the voice of his inner 
monitor. If, however, we accept the writings 
contained in the Bible, as of Divine authority, 
"to be understood and received," as Daniel Web- 
ster affirms, "in the plain and obvious meaning 
of their statements," then the declarations found 
in them bearing on this subject are too explicit 
to be misconstrued or explained away. We pro- 
pose to examine a few of them. 

In the primitive years of the human race, 
when plain, simple instruction was needed, God 
was accustomed to appear to men in the form 
of man, and talk with them as a man talks with 
his friend. Even as late as the time of Abraham 
God appeared in human form to that patriarch, 
by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the door of 
his tent, in the heat of the day, and tarried and 
talked with Abraham probably several hours. 

In the early history of the ancient nations 
their ideas of God, of creation and religion were 
pure, simple and correct. "Six thousand years 
ago," says Boscawen, "man in Egypt and Chal- 
dea stands before us, pure in his tastes, lofty 
in his ideals, and above all keenly conscious of 
the relationship which existed between him and 
his God. It is no dread, but the grateful love 
of a child to its father, of friend to friend, that 
meets us in the oldest books of the world." 



184 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

These facts can only be accounted for on the 
Bible account of direct instruction given to some 
of the primitive men by the Creator Himself. 
In succeeding ages, as men corrupted their way 
on the earth, they also corrupted, with their 
inventions, the truth they had received from 
heaven. 

After the erection of the Tabernacle in the 
wilderness, it was the custom of Moses to re- 
pair thither whenever he wished to consult the 
Divine Oracle. "And when Moses went into the 
tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, then 
he heard the Voice speaking to him from be- 
tween the two cherubims." This language is so 
minutely descriptive of place and of direction 
that it seems intended especially to guard against 
the misconstruction of modern critics. The voice 
comes from the space between the two cherubim 
that rest on the mercy seat. Its source is thus 
located by the ear in a specified place. Inner 
voices and impressions come not from a certain 
direction nor from a known place. 

When the Lord descended in a fiery cloud upon 
Mount Sinai, "Moses spoke and God answered 
by a voice." Probably no ear but that of Moses 
heard this voice, but when the ten command- 
ments were uttered on the same mount all the 
people heard the voice that proclaimed them. 
"These words the Lord spake unto all your as- 
sembly, in the mount, out of the midst of the 
fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, 
with a great voice." Here the whole congre- 
gation of Israel heard the commandments pro- 



THE VOICE OF GOD 185 

claimed with a great voice — a voice so great that 
it was heard by six hundred thousand men, be- 
sides women and children. It is no wonder, 
therefore, that when they heard, spoken in tones 
so intensely loud, these "words out of the midst 
of the fire they trembled and stood afar off. 
And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us 
and we will hear, but let not God speak with 
us lest we die; for who is there of all flesh that 
hath heard the voice of the Living God, speaking 
out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and 
lived?" 

During the contention of Aaron and Miriam 
against Moses, "the Lord came down in a pillar 
of cloud and stood at the door of the tent. And 
He said, Hear now My words; if there be a 
prophet among you, I the Lord will make known 
Myself unto him in a vision; I will speak with 
him in a dream; My servant Moses is not so; 
he is faithful in all My house; with him will I 
speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not 
in dark speeches, and the form of the Lord shall 
he behold." Could conditions be so combined, 
or words so arranged as to make statements 
more explicit? The Lord stood at the door of the 
tent; Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam heard His 
words, in which there is a line clearly drawn 
between "impressions" and uttered words; be- 
tween "dreams," and "visions," and "dark 
speeches," on the one hand, and "manifest 
speech," on the other. Moses was also accus- 
tomed to see even "the form of the Lord." The 
utterances here quoted, to which might be added 



186 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

many other passages of like import, are plain, 
simple, positive declarations. They are in no 
sense figurative, and they cannot, without liter- 
ary violence, be construed into any mode of com- 
munication, except that of plain speech. 

While Moses lived there was in the tabernacle 
a visible presence of God, or "open vision," which 
continued into the period of the judges, but seems 
at some time during the early part of that period 
to have passed away, so that in the days of 
Samuel there existed no "open vision," and even 
"the word of the Lord was precious in those 
days;" being heard then and ever afterward 
only on rare occasions; and finally "the word of 
the Lord," or audible voice, also passed away, 
and was heard no more until the new dispen- 
sation opened. 

With the announcement made by the angel 
Gabriel to Zacharias, at the altar of incense, 
flashed the dawn of the gospel ages. Six months 
later came to Mary, through the same heavenly 
messenger, the Annunciation in clear, strong 
words; and in due time an angel announced to 
the good shepherds the birth of the Messiah, 
and a multitude of the heavenly host joined him 
in a Divine concert above the fields of Bethle- 
hem and made the air vocal with praise. 

If asked how angels, who are spirits, can pro- 
duce sound in a material medium, like our at- 
mosphere, we answer, "Some things can be done 
as well as others." Where is the source of 
power? How does electricity, an imponderable 
agent, influence ponderable material? How does 



THE VOICE OF GOD 187 

the etheral sunlight kindle into living, develop- 
ing forms the germs of the vegetable world? 

We know not in what sort of medium angels 
ordinarily live and move. Their atmsophere may- 
be the hypothetical ether, or light, which per- 
vades the universe ; or "a vast unfathomable life" 
may form the medium in which they live, and 
move, and talk. But, whatever may be the con- 
ditions of their being, they can live and work 
in our atmosphere, which is pervaded with light 
and probably also with life, and cause it to vi- 
brate with annunciation or song, as easily as one 
of their number could strike dumb the mouth 
of Zacharias, or roll the great stone door from 
the entrance of Joseph's new sepulchre. 

We know nothing about the essential nature 
of matter, nothing concerning the nature of 
spirit, and nothing in regard to the relations 
existing between them. How spirit and matter 
co-exist, and how they act, the one on the other, 
are processes that elude not only our senses, but 
also our keenest intellectual perceptions. Our 
dicta concerning these things should, therefore, 
be made with modifying statement and becom- 
ing humility. 

The Divine Movement recorded in the New 
Testament is not accompanied with the over- 
awing material grandeur and splendor, which 
attended the interpositions and revelations of 
God in the Old Dispensation; but there is in it 
the more removed and more spiritual element 
that is better suited to the more advanced de- 
velopment and maturity of the human family. 



188 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Grace and truth, life and immortality, with 
easily and gracefully used power over the forces 
of nature and the causes of evil, were revealed 
in the familiar human form, and after the re- 
moval of the presence of Jesus, the power and 
the grace of God continued to be manifested only 
in the lives of His disciples, and in "signs and 
wonders" wrought by them, which consisted 
chiefly in healing the sick in the Name of Jesus. 
The few exceptions recorded are of a highly 
spiritual character, being accompanied only with 
the cloud of light or the gentle dove. At the 
baptism of Jesus the Christ, John and Jesus saw 
the descending dove, representing the Holy Spirit 
and heard a voice out of the open heaven, say- 
ing "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." Here the voice of the Father, 
uttered in the heaven, is heard by the Son and 
the Baptizer on the shore of the sacred Jordan. 

On the Mount of Transfiguration a bright 
cloud, termed by Peter, "the excellent glory," 
overshadowed Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and the 
disciples; and "behold, a voice out of the cloud 
saying, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased ; hear ye him." St. Matthew, by the 
word, behold, calls the attention of the reader 
especially to the voice, which was heard by the 
three disciples and produced on them so pro- 
found an impression that "they fell on their face 
and were sore afraid." 

God has in every age manifested Himself in 
ways suited to the condition and needs of men. 
The "signs and wonders" wrought on various 



THE VOICE OF GOD 189 

occasions, in successive periods of history, were 
object lessons adapted to "the spirit of the times" 
and to the mental and spiritual condition of the 
people. They impressed upon the hearts of 
His wayward children a sense of the power, the 
goodness, and the majesty of God, thus culti- 
vating their reverence for His Name. The Bible 
was written for the divine education of the hu- 
man family and it was given in lessons as the 
slowly learning scholars were prepared to re- 
ceive them, here a little and there a little, line 
upon line and precept upon precept. In making 
known His will, God gave divers portions, at 
divers times, by divers methods. The greater 
part of the Sacred Scriptures were written by 
holy men of old as the Spirit of the Lord spoke 
in them, but when the occasion required it, the 
word was uttered by the Divine Voice and tran- 
scribed by the inspired penman. 

Centuries have rolled by since these wonder- 
ful events and sacred lessons ceased. No more 
does the Everlasting Father cause His Voice to 
be heard in the silences of this world, nor ap- 
pear in form to the eyes of men. The heavens 
are not opened above a Bethel nor a Patmos. 
The sky no more gleams with the pinions of 
angels. Prophets and apostles, and the incarnate 
Lord Himself have been received up out of our 
sight. 

This was the natural order of the evolution 
of the Divine Government of men. In the in- 
fancy of the world the supernatural was neces- 
sary for its moral and spiritual education. But 



190 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

in the world's maturity we must walk by faith, 
not by sight. Better than all Theophanies of the 
past is "the word of God which liveth and abid- 
eth for ever." They were local and .temporary, 
this is universal and eternal. They were for 
special times and peoples, this for all times and 
all peoples. "Heaven and earth shall pass away 
but My word shall not pass away." 

"All that was of permanent value in past dis- 
pensations is here embodied in forms of thought 
and speech adapted to all the changing condi- 
tions of human existence. Every need of our 
spiritual nature is here provided for. The Book 
which contains the thoughts of God in the lan- 
guage of men, illumined and interpreted by the 
Holy Spirit who inspired it, is, next to Himself, 
God's greatest gift to man." 

With St. John's Gospel and his general epistle, 
the Revelation of God in human language was 
completed, giving all that it was expedient for 
us to know through His Written Word ; and now 
God speaks to the children of men only by that 
Written Word through the outer material eye, 
and by His Spirit to the inner spiritual ear. No 
more does the audible voice of God break the 
silences of our world, nor Theophanies dazzle 
human vision with their beauty and glory. 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF 

MEN 



Say among the nations, the Lord reigneth, 

The world also is established that it cannot be moved; 

He will judge the peoples with equity. 

— Psalm 96:10. 



In the government of men, a great deal may 
be done by severity, more by love, but most of all 
by clear discernment and impartial justice, which 
pays no respect to persons. 

—Goethe. 



The moral government of God is a movement 
in a line onward towards some grand consuma- 
tion, in which the principles, indeed, are ever the 
same, but the developments are always new — in 
which, therefore, no experience in the past can 
indicate with certainty what new openings of 
truth, what new manifestations of goodness, what 
new phases of the moral heaven may appear. 
— Mark Hopkins. 



God governs the world, and we have only to do 
our duty wisely, and leave the issue to Him. 

— John Jay. 



XI 

THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 

Of the order given by Moses to the sons of 
Levi to "put every man his sword upon his thigh, 
and go to and fro, from gate to gate, throughout 
the camp, and slay every man his brother, and 
every man his companion, and every man his 
neighbor," it was once declared from a promi- 
nent pulpit that "this was the greatest mistake 
that Moses ever made." 

Let us examine this alleged mistake in the 
light of common sense, for in most matters that 
concern us this is the best and most reliable 
light we have, and when it is illumined by the 
Higher Light that shines in the spiritual sky 
above the plane of human reason, we may safely 
depend upon it in things spiritual as well as in 
things temporal. While we would not depreciate 
education, learning, and culture, we believe with 
Daniel Webster that "the experiments and sub- 
tleties of human wisdom are more apt to ob- 
scure than to enlighten the Revealed Will of God, 
and that he is the most accomplished Christian 
scholar who has been educated at the feet of 
Jesus and in the College of Fishermen." 

To determine the magnitude of this mistake 
of Moses, and whether he made a mistake, or 
not, several things must be considered. The re- 
lation of God and of His servant Moses to the 
people must be carefully studied, and also the 



194 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

political and moral condition of the people, as 
well as the times in which they lived, and the 
customs of the neighboring nations. Some prin- 
ciples of universal recognition must also be kept 
in view. 

God was by absolute right their King. He 
made them a people, supplied their needs, and 
defended them against the assaults of their ene- 
mies. They owed to Him allegiance, service, 
reverence. They had also agreed, in solemn 
covenant, to be His subjects, saying, "All that 
the Lord hath spoken we will do." Moses, under 
God's direction, was the leader, the law-giver, 
and the commander-in-chief, as well as the judge 
of Israel. He was invested with authority to 
issue orders, and to inflict upon the lawless and 
the rebellious the penalties approved in his time. 

The punishment it is asserted was out of pro- 
portion to the offense. But was the offense a 
light one? Was the punishment, as is alleged, 
unjust or cruel? Now with regard to the of- 
fense, we have the estimate of its magnitude 
made by Moses in his address to the people, and 
also in his plea for them before the Lord. To 
the people he said, "Ye have sinned a great 
sin," and before the Lord he said, "Oh, this peo- 
ple have sinned a great sin, and have made them 
gods of gold." 

In making these gods and returning to idol 
worship, they set up a government of their own 
and severed their allegiance to God, their King, 
whom they had covenanted to obey. This was 
disloyalty and rebellion, and was punishable with 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 195 

death in all the kingdoms of old. Furthermore, 
the Israelites were organized into an army, and 
were fighting their way through hostile tribes 
to the land given to their fathers. Now no one, 
even in the light of the twentieth century, denies 
the right of a commander to have deserters and 
other delinquents courtmartialed and shot by 
their companions in arms, nor does anyone ques- 
tion the justice, or mercy even, of the general 
who exercises this right. 

In addition to rebellion against God, their 
sovereign, the people were guilty of mutiny 
against Moses, their commander, and they per- 
sisted in their crimes after the return of Moses. 
When he issued the order, "Whoso is on the 
Lord's side, let him come unto me," only the sons 
of Levi obeyed. There was, therefore, no course 
left for Moses, but resort to military law, and 
enforcement of obedience at the edge of the 
sword. The leaders of the defection were, there- 
fore, executed under his order, and the people, 
becoming submissive, were pardoned. It is here 
seen that Moses acted deliberately and legally. 
There is not in the history of this case the 
slightest evidence that he made a mistake, nor 
is any cause found in it for the charge of cruelty. 

Moreover, if the commander of Israel made a 
mistake, then God is chargeable with the same 
error, for "the Lord said unto Moses, In the 
day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. 
And the Lord smote the people because they made 
the calf which Aaron made." The order of 
Moses was, therefore, issued and executed un- 



196 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

der the Divine sanction and according to the 
prevailing custom of the time. He acted as any 
good commander would have done, with decis- 
ion and promptness. That the execution of the 
order was painful to him is evident from his 
intercession with the Lord for Israel : "Yet now, 
if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot 
me, I pray Thee, out of the book which Thou 
hast written." 

Moses, in fact, was a leader of rare qualities. 
Notwithstanding his great ability and learning, 
he was slow to accept authority, as shown at the 
burning bush, and he threw away ambition, seek- 
ing only the welfare of the people and sharing 
with them his honors. The so-called mistakes 
form part of a wise and necessary plan of dis- 
cipline. 

It has now been shown that Moses made no 
mistake in issuing and executing the order under 
consideration; that it was not an act of injustice 
and cruelty; but that it was an obligation, 
the execution of which was painful to his sensi- 
tive soul. He did his duty as a faithful and 
efficient commander, and thus received the ap- 
proval of the Lord, who "smote the people be- 
cause they made the calf," which was the sym- 
bol of disloyalty and rebellion. 

This alleged mistake of Moses, therefore, leads 
up to a grave question. The prime responsibility 
is removed from Moses and reverts upon the 
God of Israel, who delegated to him the power 
to declare and execute judgment, and approved 
this particular act. The great question then is, 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 197 

not whether Moses blundered, but whether the 
All-wise One made a mistake — whether the Lord 
God, merciful and gracious, committed, through 
his agent Moses, a cruel act. The same facts 
which, when logically considered, prove the 
justice of the order issued by Moses, will also 
justify God's approval of it. 

Of old it was asked, "Shall not the Judge of 
the whole earth do right?" And through the 
onflowing ages the answer was echoed and re- 
echoed in the affirmative, accompanied with the 
feeling, however, that was finally voiced by the 
apostle Paul: "0 the depth of the riches, both 
of the wisdom and the knowledge of God; how 
unsearchable are His judgments and His ways 
past finding out!" 

The finite cannot comprehend the Infinite. We 
can only know what God reveals to us of Him- 
self in the Works of Nature and in the Word 
of Revelation. And God can only reveal a little 
to us on account of our limited capacity. Nor 
can we comprehend the system of the universe, 
filling all space and extending through all time. 
We are only able to look a little way into the 
vast system, and to see but a small section of 
the plan that has no limit in space and no end 
in time. It is, consequently, often beyond our 
power to understand and explain clearly the 
judgments of God. It behooves us, therefore, 
in matters too great for us, to be humble, rev- 
erent, and submissive. "We know little, while 
we think we know much." But of one thing we 
may feel sure, that while clouds and darkness 



198 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

are round about God, righteousness and equity- 
form the foundation of His throne. 

In the light now gained and in the spirit of 
humility, let us examine the question before us. 
So far as that part of it is concerned that re- 
lates to the possibility of a mistake, we may dis- 
miss it without discussion, for it is impossible 
for Him who possesses infinite knowledge and 
wisdom, to err. The remaining part of the ques- 
tion might also be disposed of in the same way, 
since all God's "judgments are true and right- 
eous." But as the righteousness and goodness 
of the Lord may not always be apparent to us 
in the punishments that He has enacted as the 
outgrowth of wrong-doing, it is well for us, ^o 
far as we can, to elucidate them, and 

"Justify the ways of God to men." 

When Solon was asked whether he had pro- 
vided the best laws for the Athenians, he replied : 
"The best they are capable of receiving." Now, 
as laws must be adapted to the capacity of the 
people for whom they are made, so also must the 
penalties for breaking the law be suited to their 
intellectual and moral condition. Both must be 
adapted to attain the ends of justice, and the 
highest welfare of the whole people. A penal 
code suited to a people living in one age or coun- 
try would not be adapted to another people liv- 
ing under different conditions. Punishments 
which, in an age of general enlightment, might 
seem severe and cruel, would, among rude and 
uncultured peoples, be necessary for the preser- 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 199 

vation of order and the discipline of the race 
and the individual. 

For nearly four hundred years the Israelites 
were bondmen in Egypt. During that time they 
were pressed into abject slavery, and their minds, 
as the worship of the golden calf shows, became 
so imbued with the idolatrous religion of Egypt, 
that the mighty signs, wrought in their pres- 
ence by the Lord, made but an evanescent im- 
pression on their hearts. It required indeed, the 
strict training of forty years and the destruction 
of the generation that was brought up out of 
Egypt to prepare them to carry the knowledge 
and worship of the God of their fathers into the 
land of promise. Nothing but the most over- 
whelming judgments could subdue their rebelli- 
ous temper and impress upon their perverse 
minds a sense of the power and holiness of God. 
With the memory of the march through the Red 
Sea on dry ground, and the destruction of Pha- 
raoh's hosts fresh in their minds, and in the 
presence of the Mount that burned with fire, 
they broke into open rebellion, made for them- 
selves gods of gold, and worshipped them as their 
deliverers from servitude. 

If treason and mutiny against human govern- 
ment deserve punishment with death, and man 
has the right under such conditions to inflict the 
death-penalty, much more has God, who gives 
life, the prerogative of taking away life when 
the right to live has been forfeited by men as 
free-agents, entrusted with the gift of life, and, 



200 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

therefore, responsible for the use they make of 
the powers thus conferred. 

The way of life had been opened to the chil- 
dren of Israel, but they turned aside quickly 
out of the way and "corrupted themselves."' 
They voluntarily and persistently refused God's 
offer of mercy and brought upon themselves His 
righteous judgment. The punishment, at first 
thought, looks severe, but it assumes a different 
aspect when we remember that the rebellion was 
of gigantic proportions. More than six hundred 
thousand men persisted in their sin of rebellion 
and idolatry. As their sin was great, a corres- 
pondingly great punishment was required to meet 
the case. The Lord, therefore, smote the people, 
so that there fell throughout the camp about 
three thousand men — the leaders of the idol- 
atrous defection. This punishment was an 
object lesson suited to the people and to the oc- 
casion, and brought them back to the service 
and worship of their Divine Sovereign. 

Soon after this event there was given to Moses 
a declaration of the character of the God of 
Israel. The Lord descended in the cloud, and 
passing before Moses, proclaimed: "Jehovah, 
Jehovah, a God full of compassion and gracious, 
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth ; 
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
and transgression and sin; and who will by no 
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of 
the fathers upon the children, and upon the chil- 
dren's children, upon the third and upon the 
fourth generation." Here we have a portrait of 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 201 

the character of God, drawn in the beginning of 
Hebrew history, in an age of gross idolatry and 
fanciful myths — a portrait carried through the 
Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, re- 
ceiving here and there an additional touch, but 
continuing unchanged in its features, even up to 
the last and finest touches given by the beloved 
disciple in the final words of the Written Revela- 
tion, where, in the grandest generalization pos- 
sible, all the powers and qualities of Diety are 
summed up in the triple formula: "God is life, 
God is light, God is love." 

This proclamation, granted to Moses, is a de- 
scription of the Supreme Being as the Divine 
Sovereign of Israel, and it applies also to God 
in His relations with all nations, and tribes, and 
families, in every age and in every climate. The 
history of the Jews and that of the other na- 
tions of antiquity are convincing examples of the 
truth of this declaration, and we have only to 
look around us to see everywhere in existing na- 
tions and families that God is dealing with them 
as He did with the kingdoms and tribes of old. 
God, our Sovereign, as here revealed, is the kind 
of Divine Ruler that the erring, perverse peo- 
ples of the earth need. He is full of compassion, 
and of sympathy with human weakness and suf- 
fering; slow to anger, bearing long even with the 
wickedness of men ; and plenteous in mercy and 
truth, keeping mercy for millions, and when na- 
tions and peoples become penitent, forgiving iniq- 
uity, transgression, and sin. Here we might pause 
for an interval and congratulate the nations and 



202 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

families of the earth on the flawless excellence 
of their Divine Ruler ; but with all these gracious 
qualities, He would be a Sovereign, not perfectly 
fitted for the government and judgment of this 
rebellious and corrupt world. Iniquity, and 
transgression, and sin cannot be permitted to 
go on without restraint. The Ruler and Judge 
of the nations must be a God, not only of mercy 
and goodness and truth, but also of justice and 
equity in the administration of national and fam- 
ily affairs; "who will by no means clear the 
guilty;" who will visit the iniquity of the rulers 
and the ruled upon their nation, and of the fath- 
ers upon their children through generations. 
Numerous examples of this method of dealing 
with the nations and families of the earth abound 
on every hand, and herein is found an explana- 
tion of the oft-observed fact that "the innocent 
suffer with the guilty." 

This is God's method — a necessary method — 
of dealing with men united into families and 
nations, but not with men in their individual 
relations to Him. Every man in his personal 
relation to God is responsible for his own con- 
duct alone. The idea of personal responsibility 
to God, Daniel Webster said, was the greatest 
thought that his mind ever entertained. This 
great thought is intimately related to the great 
gift of free-agency, granted in trust, and for the 
faithful, or unfaithful use of which every one 
must give an account to his Creator and Judge, in 
whose presence his quickened sense of responsi- 
bility will either acquit or condemn him. "All 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 203 

souls are Mine, saith the Lord, as the soul of 
the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine; 
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall 
not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall 
the father bear the iniquity of the son; the 
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, 
and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon 
him." Here comes to light the necessity of a 
General Judgment. Hence "God hath appointed 
a Day, in which He will judge," not the na- 
tions and the tribes of the earth, but "the 
world," every individual in it, "in righteous- 
ness," when there will be "a righting of all 
wrongs of the ages — a solving of all moral prob- 
lems by an unanswerable wisdom;" when every 
individual who has lived on the earth shall find 
"his own place." 

Of the necessity of some other place than this 
world where justice may in exact measure be 
meted out, Justice David J. Brewer says: "It 
is certain that absolute justice can never be ad- 
ministered by finite men. The judge must ever 
act with the consciousness that there is a do- 
main into which he can never enter, and yet 
a domain filled with considerations which affect 
in the highest sense the matter of perfect justice. 
Two men stand before the bar. In the eye of 
the law they are alike, and yet in the essential 
elements of character, those elements which en- 
ter and determine the question and quantity of 
moral guilt, they may be as far apart as the 
Poles. One may be brought up in the best en- 
vironment with every advantage of education 



204 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and moral training. The other may have passed 
his life in the midst of constant temptation, in 
the most demoralizing environment, every in- 
fluence tending to drag him down. And yet 
these men standing before the bar of justice must 
suffer the same penalty for the concrete act of 
which they have been proven guilty. But in the 
eye of God there is a vast difference in the moral 
guilt of the two. 

"What then? Believing in an Infinite Being, 
unseen, yet standing supreme over human life 
and human history, the question comes, Is it pos- 
sible that in the lower range of things, in the 
domain of material nature, there is absolute cer- 
tainty, and that certainty is within the limits of 
human knowledge, and that in the higher realm 
of the spirit the race must go on until the end 
of time, unable to ascertain or to act with cer- 
tainty? Only one alternative is presented: In 
some other time and place the failures of justice 
on earth will be rectified. The inevitable fail- 
ure of justice in this life is an assurance of a 
better life to come." 

In our investigation we have found that Moses, 
in the case considered, made no mistake and that 
the Lord was not chargeable with the sanction 
of an unjust and cruel deed. We have also found 
that the policy carried out by Moses and ap- 
proved by the Lord was part of a necessary 
plan of discipline — necessary on account of man's 
misuse of the Divine gift of free-will. We have 
found, further, the necessity of some other place 
and time, not of this world, where exact justice 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 205 

may be meted out. We have, therefore, now 
reached a position from which we may take a 
clearer, wider view of the various punishments 
inflicted upon the children of Israel, and of the 
apparently cruel and terrible judgments execu- 
ted upon the tribes that dwelt in the land which 
Israel invaded and gradually occupied. 

The petty kingdoms of the land had become 
politically and morally corrupt. The people had 
lost, by yielding voluntarily to the base desires 
of their sinful hearts, their knowledge and wor- 
ship of the Most High God whom their ancestors 
served. They had substituted a gross and sen- 
sual worship of monster idols, in which licen- 
tious rites formed part of the service, and inno- 
cent children "were passed through the fire" as of- 
ferings to their gods. They had filled up the cup 
of their iniquity, and had, with their abomina- 
tions defiled the land which God had given them 
to dwell in, thus surrendering their right to re- 
main its occupants, and so "the land vomited 
them out." To them God had for ages been 
merciful and gracious, and though their deeds 
were continually evil, He was long-suffering with 
them and gave them, not only years, but centuries 
of grace. 

Unlike men, who are often swift to avenge 
wrong and often execute, with rash haste, the 
perpetrators of obnoxious crimes, the God of the 
nations does not move speedily in executing 
sentence upon evil works. He "makes haste 
slowly," and gives ample time for those upon 
whom sentence has been passed to turn from 



206 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

their evil ways and live. Yet, when a people 
persist in their chosen sins, the execution of the 
sentence pronounced against them will take place 
in due time and in due order, "for the Lord will 
by no means clear the guilty." And so the time 
finally came for the execution of the sentence 
passed upon the tribes of Canaan, and their in- 
iquities, running back through preceding ages, 
were visited upon the last generations who "fill- 
ed up the measure of their fathers." 

Now it must be remembered, in considering 
the judgments visited upon the tribes of Canaan, 
that war was the normal condition of the nations 
then existing. This condition was the natural 
outgrowth of man's alienation from his Maker. 
Hard-heartedness, cruelty, and vengeance had 
grown to be the virtues of those times. When, 
therefore, a city was captured by an enemy, 
men, women, and children, according to the cus- 
toms of the time, were "put to the edge of the 
sword," and all perished together. The slaughter 
of the children with the guilty seems to be es- 
pecially cruel, but it must be borne in mind that 
in those ages children were considered partici- 
pants in the sins and crimes of the family and 
shared in the penalties. The exigencies of those 
times, resulting from national and religious cor- 
ruption, justified to some extent this custom; 
and the law of transmission of sinful propensi- 
ties in heredity, made it necessary for the Divine 
Ruler of Israel to incorporate, in some measure, 
the custom into the military policy of his people. 

We can, in our narrow sphere, see only a few of 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 207 

the conditions that stand out clear in the vision of 
the all-seeing One. God does not look upon 
death, natural or violent, as man does. In the 
presence of death we stand powerless and appall- 
ed. To man death is "the king of terrors." To 
God, the Fountain of life, death is but a change 
of conditions, and, while He has no pleasure in 
the death of the wicked, that of His saints is 
precious in His sight, and the innocents, small 
and great, who have in this world been involved 
in the penalties of the guilty are cared for by a 
loving Hand and will come up in the great day 
of individual reckoning from all nations, and 
kindreds, and tongues to be judged according to 
the standard of personal merit. 

The view which these briefly considered 
thoughts have enabled us to reach throws some 
light on the perplexing subject of Divine Sov- 
ereignty and Free-will, and leads up to the su- 
preme question — the existence of evil. These, 
however, are part of "the secret things that be- 
long unto the Lord our God." Nevertheless, the 
source of sin, when traced to its root, will be 
found in the perverse exercise of the will, which 
God, even in His Sovereignty, holds inviolable; 
and hence the responsibility for sin and its con- 
sequences rests with the free-agent 

"Our wills are ours, we know not how; 
Our wills are ours to make them Thine." 

God, in His wisdom and love, is working out 
His plan in the overflow of the reign of evil, and 
though the existence of sin with its direful effects 



208 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

mars a small part of the work of God, and seems 
to defeat the Divine purpose in the creation of 
man, it only seems so to us on account of our 
limited range of vision. The Almighty One, who 
causes the water-lily, pure and white, to grow 
from the seed dropped in the mud of the pond, 
is evolving from the old, corrupt world a new one 
of purity and beauty. The evolution, like all 
God's plans, goes on slowly and almost unper- 
ceived, nevertheless, it will ultimately unfold in 
eternal beauty and glory. 

"The thoughts of God are timeless, and the 
thoughts of God are one," and though a Divine 
thought, or purpose may seemingly come to 
naught, it only looks so; for "an apparent de- 
feat of the Divine purpose is ever the occasion 
of the unfolding of a further purpose," which 
includes the original purpose that seemed to be 
thwarted. In the fall of man the purpose of 
God in his creation seemed to be defeated, but 
God made that seeming defeat the occasion of a 
further unfolding of His purpose in the promise 
then first made of the Coming Man, of whom all 
the Scriptures testify, Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
our Savior, who was manifested that, "through 
death, He might bring to naught him that has the 
power of death," destroy his works, and bring all 
things into accord with the Divine Will, "accord- 
ing to the working whereby He is able even to 
subject all things unto Himself." The Eternal 
Word became the Perfect Man, "God manifested 
in the flesh," and the work that He came to do 
will, when completed, be also perfect. The chil- 



THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MEN 209 

dren of God will regain in Him, not only the do- 
minion of the earth, largely lost in Adam, but, ac- 
quiring new privileges and becoming co-heirs 
with Him of all things, will also share in His Uni- 
versal Dominion. The redeemed will ultimately 
come up out of all nations and out of all seas, 
and "old things having passed away and all 
things become new," will live in eternal activity 
and blessedness, the Lord God Omnipotent will 
reign in peace and glory for evermore, and we 
shall evermore behold the King in His Perfect 
Beauty. 



PRAYER 



Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears 
attend, unto the Prayer that is made in this place. 
— 2 Chronicles 7:15. 



Pray without ceasing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17. 



Religion is no more possible without prayer 
than poetry without language, or music without 
atmosphere. 

— James Martineau. 



Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but 
taking hold of God's willingness. 

— Phillips Brooks. 



Worship is the earthly act by which we most 
distinctly recognize our personal immortality; 
men who think they will be extinct a few years 
hence do not pray. In worship we spread out our 
insignificant life, which yet is the work of the 
Creator's hands and the purchase of the Redeem- 
er's blood, before the Eternal and All-Merciful 
that we may learn the manners of a higher sphere, 
and fit ourselves for companionship with saints 
and angels, and for the everlasting sight of the 

face of God. 

— H. P. Liddon. 



XII 
PRAYER 

The place of prayer in the Divine Govern- 
ment is a subject of perplexing interest to many 
thinking people. Extreme views are held on this, 
as on most other questions in which men are in- 
terested. The human mind, swayed often by the 
heart's impulse, swings like a pendulum, to and 
fro between the extremes of its intellectual sweep. 
Thought in one direction is followed by reactive 
thinking in the opposite direction, and thus, from 
the various points of view taken, that position 
which seems most desirable to the mind, or is 
most in accord with the feelings of the heart, 
is finally occupied. 

The various opinions relating to prayer are 
thus due to different view-points. Some who de- 
sire not the knowledge of God's ways, ask : 

"What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? 
And what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?" 

Others, who hold God to be a power as unmoved 
by prayer as the power of gravitation, ask: 

"How doth God know? 
And is there knowledge in the Most High?" 

There are others, however, who believe that "The 
Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him, to 
all that call upon Him in truth," that "The Lord 
is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul 



214 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

that seeketh Him." They believe that God 
speaks truly when He says, "Then shall ye call 
upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and 
I will hearken to you. And ye shall seek Me and 
find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your 
heart." 

The thoughts of old concerning prayer have 
come down through the ages and crop out in the 
thinking of our times in forms not very unlike 
those in which they found expression among the 
ancients. A modified form of the old unbelief 
is in the following statement: 

"God is perfect, 

Change implies ignorance, weakness, imperfection; 
Therefore, God is unchangeable, and unchanged by 
prayer." 

Analyzing these statements we find the argument 
stands thus : 

Perfection is unchangeable; 

God is perfect; 

Therefore, God is unchangeable, and unchanged by prayer. 

If the middle term, perfection, used here, be a 
universal term the conclusion is correct. 

Now, there are many kinds of perfection, and 
many qualities enter into the constitution of the 
perfect being or the perfect object. And instead 
of accepting the statement that perfection is un- 
changeable, the question may be raised whether 
change is not an essential element of perfection. 
Let us look at things as they are, for though we 
may take them as they seem, or distort them to 
fit our own theories, they continue, notwithstand- 



PRAYER 215 

ing, to be what they are. And this is true in 
God's revelation given in His Written Word, as 
well as in the revelation made through His 
Works. 

If we look into the vegetable world, it will be 
found that the plants that pass through the great- 
est and most prolonged changes are the most per- 
fect. The fungus, lowest and least perfect of 
plants, springs up in a night, and remains un- 
changed in form, texture, and beauty. The fruit 
tree, the most perfect specimen of plant life, 
evolves the nutrient sap and spreading branch, 
bud and leaf, flower and fruit; producing thus, 
through revolving years, series after series of 
beautiful changes. 

In the realm of animal life we find also the 
same law. The higher the animal in the scale 
of being and the more perfect its nature and 
form, the more numerous are the conditions of its 
life and the greater the changes through which it 
passes. Man, who stands at the head of the scale 
of life, the most perfect in form and adaptation, 
"the paragon of animals," far excels them all in 
the changes through which his evolution unfolds 
him. Through infancy, childhood and youth, 
maturity and old age, changes are incessantly 
going on. The lower animals, on reaching ma- 
turity, remain in a comparatively unchanged con- 
dition. Man, more richly endowed, and less in- 
fluenced by environment, runs his course with in- 
dividual changes so constantly evolving that a 
score of years will so transform him that his old 
friends can hardly recognize in him their former 
companion. 



216 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Observing the inanimate world, we see every- 
where changes innumerable and unceasing, un- 
folding to the eye an ever-moving panorama of 
beauty and sublimity. Day and night alternate 
in their display of Nature's works, and with the 
revolving year the seasons return, bringing ver- 
dure and blossom, leafage and fruitage. 

Man's work remains fixed. The only change 
through which it passes is that of decay and ruin. 
The statue and the painting never present a new 
color nor a changed attitude. The masterpiece of 
the architect stands forever in the same unchang- 
ed angles, lines and planes. Not after this method 
does the great Architect build. His works are 
made according to predetermined laws and condi- 
tions that are evolving perpetual changes, pre- 
senting thus to our thought and taste ever-vary- 
ing views that awaken inquiry and delight. 

All these endless evolutions and changes, by 
whatever apparent causes produced, are the out- 
come of one creating and upholding Power. One 
Force projects and sustains, and one Mind directs 
and controls the numberless worlds that form the 
universe, while Life, Light, and Love evolve un- 
der the direction of one Will the progressive 
changes that are ever tending toward the ulti- 
mate purpose of the Creator. Higher and higher 
rises the Living Structure, declaring to the pro- 
phetic eye the thought translated into human 
speech by England's philosophic poet : 

"One God, who ever lives and loves; 
One God, one law, one element, 
And one far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves." 



PRAYER 217 

Under the directing Will of God all the forces 
of the universe act. They all work together in 
harmony with the Creator's controlling and di- 
recting Power. Hence the universe is not a life- 
less machine, made in a cast iron mould, preclud- 
ing change and evolution. There are wheels 
within wheels, forces and laws, though invari- 
able, so fitted into their place that each one ful- 
fills its part without jarring the others. 

To some of these laws exceptions exist. The 
expansion of water, on cooling into ice, for in- 
stance, is an exception to the law that cold con- 
tracts bodies. This exception, however, like 
others, is beneficent. 

To most of nature's laws there are no excep- 
tions, or only apparent ones. Smoke ascends, 
and through the action of heat acqueous vapor 
rises into the atmosphere. Many rivers flow up- 
hill. The Mississippi, for instance, is about four 
miles higher at its mouth than at its source. 
These facts, though apparently setting aside the 
law of gravitation, do not interfere in the least 
with its action. The variations in the move- 
ments of the heavenly bodies are corrected, in 
their time-cycles, by the laws that control their 
motions. In these variations there is no law an- 
nulled, suspended, or modified. We thus see that 
natural laws, though some exceptions and varia- 
tions exist, operate in perfect harmony, and that 
the way is open for the All-Powerful, All-wise 
Creator to make changes and modifications with- 
out disturbing a law or causing a jar in the work- 
ing of the universe. Browning insists that God 



218 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

is still at work on the world, and that no law pre- 
vents Him from answering prayer. In Luria he 
says: 

"All changes at God's instantaneous will, 
Not by the operation of a law 
Whose Maker is elsewhere at work. 
His hand is still engaged upon this world — 
Man's prayer can force it, 
Man's prayer suspend." 

In accordance with this reserved power of the 
Creator were wrought the signs recorded in Holy 
Scripture. Healing the sick and raising the dead 
were in harmony with natural law; for life and 
health are normal conditions. Joshua's astound- 
ing miracle was wrought through the reflection 
and the refraction of light in changed atmos- 
pheric conditions around the globe, without the 
slightest disturbance in the movements of the 
solar system. Even the general resurrection of 
the dead will probably be the final outcome of 
laws now operating in a great time-cycle. As 
the seed, dropped into the fertile soil lies buried 
during its brief cycle of death and decay, furnish- 
ing the germ that develops into a new plant, so 
the lifeless body, consigned to mother-earth, will 
furnish the germinal dust out of which the new 
body will come forth in power and glory, 
when the time-cycle of death's reign closes, and 
"what is mortal becomes swallowed up of life." 
The Lord holds the keys of death and the grave, 
and when the appointed time rolls around the 
gates will be unlocked, and the dead will come 



PRAYER 219 

forth as naturally as the plant grows out of the 
seed laid away in the genial soil. 

Some of the miracles recorded in the Bible 
seem to interfere with the laws of nature, but on 
a careful study of them it will be found that the 
disturbance is only apparent. The passage of 
Israel, for instance, through the Red Sea, on dry 
ground, with a wall of water on each side of them, 
looks like a disturbance of gravity, but was not 
the law of gravitation in force everywhere, ex- 
cept at that one little spot? There was, in fact, 
no more disturbance of the law of gravitation 
than there is of the equilibrium of electricity in 
the charging of a battery, or the transmission of 
a telegram. As in these there is only local dis- 
turbance, produced by human agency, so in 
that there was only local disturbance, effected 
by Divine agency. No law was suspended. In 
machinery constructed by man, if the most 
minute part is disturbed, the movement of 
the whole machine becomes deranged or stops. 
This defect never occurs in God's work. He 
so made the worlds that a local phenomenon 
which seems to us a disturbance of the laws 
of nature, and which is to us a miracle, does 
not produce the slightest discord in the harmony 
of the universe. 

We probably draw too broad a line between the 
material and the spiritual. We know nothing 
about the essential nature of either. We discern 
only their phenomena — their powers, properties, 
and changes. To observe the changes, proper- 
ties, and powers which an object — water for ex- 



220 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

ample — assumes under varying conditions, often 
awakens very suggestive thoughts. Below a 
certain temperature water is a passive solid. 
Raise the temperature a few degrees and it be- 
comes a flowing liquid. Add a few more degrees 
of heat and it becomes changed into floating va- 
por. Raised to a high temperature it is trans- 
formed into steam — a gas invisible and powerful. 

Now the Eternal Word, manifested in the fuU- 
ness of time in Jesus the Christ, created all things 
and enacted the laws of their existence and trans- 
formation. Jesus, therefore, had power over 
force and matter, over life and death. The 
winds and waves obeyed His voice; bread and 
fishes multiplied under His blessing; death de- 
parted and life came back at His command. He 
had power over His own body to lay it down in 
death and to take it up again, transformed into 
a spiritual body, endowed with the life eternal. 
St. Paul informs us that those who are living in 
the day of the resurrection of the dead shall be 
changed, their material bodies changed into 
spiritual bodies, in a moment, in the twinkle of an 
eye. If we bear in mind these facts we shall 
form a clearer conception of the manifestations 
which Jesus made in His resurrected body to His 
disciples. 

Probably the most wonderful record in the Bi- 
ble is that concerning the movements of our 
Lord in His resurrected body. He could appear 
suddenly to His disciples, or vanish out of their 
sight instantly. He could pass through material 
walls as easily as we can move through the air, 



PRAYER 221 

and appear in the midst of the disciples assem- 
bled in a room with closed doors. Here we have 
an intimation of forces and laws controlling mat- 
ter, concerning which scientists have, as yet, 
learned nothing. These higher forces also oper- 
ate in harmony with the lower, known forces. 

It may be objected that this view of miracles 
lessens their force. By no means. God's Wi'l 
is the controlling Power of the universe. The 
fact that He so enacts and operates its forces and 
laws as to allow special phenomena, or miracles, 
which He can bring to pass without causing any 
disturbance in the working of those forces and 
laws, whenever He wills, makes the glory of His 
Wisdom equal to the glory of His Power. 

God of His own Will, according to His own 
council, moved by His unchanging love, so plan- 
ned and constructed the universe, with its forces 
and laws, that there is ample room reserved for 
the play of His own free energy, according to His 
wisdom and love. As the court of equity re- 
serves to itself, on petition — which was originally 
made to the King — "the power to grant more 
speedy and ample justice" than the written law 
can give, so the Eternal Spirit, of whose energy 
and action the lightnings flash is but a shadow, 
working evermore in accord with the laws of the 
universe, also works in special ways, by reserved 
power without annulling or suspending those 
laws. Man, made in the image of God, and con- 
sequently endowed with the gift of free-will, also 
works. He may co-work with God, without dis- 
turbing the laws of nature, in bringing to pass 
special purposes. 



222 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Here opens the province of prayer. The pray- 
er of faith, offered according to the Will of God, 
will be heard and answered in harmony with the 
laws of the universe. The Father in the heavens 
guards with special care His children. He knows 
their needs, and is found by those who seek Him, 
and gives to them who ask. He numbers the 
hairs of their heads, and sends His angels to min- 
ister unto them. He is moved with the feeling 
of their infirmities, and sustains them in tempta- 
tion, making a way for their escape. He so loved 
them that in eternity He put into the plan of the 
universe a Special Design for the redemption of 
the fallen, degenerate sons of men, and "when the 
fullness of time came, God sent forth His son, 
born of a woman, born under the law, that He 
might redeem them who are under the law, that 
we might receive the adoption of sons." 

Being adopted into the family of God, we have 
access into the Most Holy Place of the Taberna- 
cle, not made with hands, through our great High 
Priest and Advocate ; and if we ask in our prayer 
according to His will, He hears us. There are 
two conditions on which the answer to prayer de- 
pends — the petition must be offered according to 
the will of God, and he who offers it must be one 
with God. "If ye abide in Me and My words 
abide in you," said Jesus, "ye shall ask what ye 
will and it shall be done unto you." The will of 
the petitioner must move within God's will, and 
since "God worketh all things according to the 
counsel of His own will," there is here opened a 
wide field for the work of prayer. 



PRAYER 223 

Having shown that God works in special ways 
in accord with the construction and laws of the 
universe, let us now endeavor to acquire a knowl- 
edge and sense of His willingness to hear and 
answer the prayers of His consciously depend- 
ent children. 

The relation existing between the earthly 
father and his child demands the provident care 
of the father. Would not the father who so 
formed his plans as to preclude his own free 
action in ministering to the special needs of his 
children be considered unwise, and indifferent 
about their welfare? The more perfect the char- 
acter of the father is, the more careful in forming 
his plans will he be to allow himself ample scope 
for ministering to the daily wants and special 
needs of his children. If this be so with the 
earthly father who is commanded to be perfect 
even as his Father in heaven is perfect, it must, 
in an infinitely higher sense, be true in the govern- 
ment of God our Father. 

It is true, as made known in Holy Scripture, 
that God, in character, is unchangeable. "He is 
the same yesterday, and today, and forever." 
His power fails not, nor does He grow weary; 
His wisdom never errs, nor does His love become 
cold. This unchangeable perfection of the Di- 
vine Being, however, does not preclude change of 
purpose nor change of action. God is not bound 
by decrees of fate. He is not merely a God afar 
off, but also "nigh at hand," noting even the 
falling of a sparrow to the ground. He who cre- 
ated free-agents, endowing them with sense, and 



224 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

reason, and love, must also Himself be free to act, 
as His wisdom and love may direct. Had God so 
constructed His works as to allow no change, nor 
progress, nor His own Personal adjustment ox 
special conditions, whenever He wills, that would 
have been evidence of imperfection in His char- 
acter. The fact that God brings to pass many- 
things that are outside of, but in harmony with, 
the laws of nature is evidence of His perfection. 

The Perfect One is not only God Almighty, 
upholding all things by the word of His power, 
but also the Everlasting Father, guarding in love 
the well-being of His children, hearing and an- 
swering their cry in the hour of need. Though 
He is the center and soul of every sphere, He is 
to each loving heart very near. "For thus saith 
the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth 
is my footstool; what manner of house will ye 
build unto Me? and what place shall be My rest? 
For all these things hath My hand made, and so 
all these things came to be, saith the Lord ; but to 
this man will I look, even to him that is poor and 
of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My 
word. Before they call I will answer, and 
while they are yet speaking I will hear." 

We have here a declaration of infinite conde- 
scension. The Eternal God, whose throne is 
above all heavens, looks to him that is poor and of 
a contrite spirit, and trembleth at His Word. 
Not to the mighty, and the noble, and the haughty 
of the earth, not though they build temples to 
Him does God look, but to him who feels his de- 
pendence and helplessness. The prayer of meek- 



PRAYER 225 

ness and penitence always reaches the ear of our 
Heavenly Father, and is answered in loving-kind- 
ness and wisdom. 

The power of weakness and humbleness finds 
many illustrations in common life. A few years 
ago a widely known orator, in crossing a street 
in New York, passed in front of a hack. The 
hackman, without checking the reins, called to 
him to get out of the way. Scarcely had he 
reached the other side, when every vehicle on the 
street suddenly stopped. On looking to see the 
cause he beheld in his track a helpless little child, 
whose presence even the rough men heeded, and 
whose little person they guarded from harm, 
Weakness was powerful where strength was help- 
less. 

In the home the younger and weaker children 
receive most of the mother's care, and if one of 
them is afflicted her ear is keenly sensitive to its 
cry, and her heart strongly moves her to minister 
promptly to its wants. The love of God who is 
the source of love in the mother's heart, is more 
powerfully moved by the cry of His children in 
need than that of the most perfect mother. 

God is more ready to forgive than we are to 
repent, more willing to give than we are to ask, 
more desirous to be found than we are to seek 
Him, and more willing to do great things for us 
than we are to believe. 

In every individal there is planted a germ of 
prayer which, if heeded and cultivated, will bring 
its possessor into touch with God. Because of the 
neglect of this religious sense multitudes rush or 



226 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

plod on in the highway of life, unmindful of their 
relation to God their Father until some affliction 
or calamity arrests them, and then they complain 
that the Lord is a hard Master, forgetting that 
they have been rebellious children and that the 
evils of which they complain have come upon 
them through their own disobedience. God's 
goodness and kindness ought to lead all to a life 
of obedience and love, but so great is the perver- 
sity of man's will that in a life of sunshine and 
prosperity he forgets God, and when adversity 
comes, instead of being submissive and thankful, 
he chides and blasphemes God, or falls upon his 
knees in piteous lamentation. 

"There is no God, the foolish saith, 
But none, there is no sorrow, 

And nature oft the cry of faith 
In bitter need will borrow; 

Eyes that the preacher could not school, 
By wayside graves are raised, 

And lips say, God is pitiful, 
That ne'er said, God be praised." 

Life is real, life is earnest, but its conditions, 
in one aspect, are variable and uncertain. We 
know not what an hour may bring forth. To- 
morrow is not today, and he who rests his hopes 
of tomorrow on the conditions of today, may find 
the ground sinking under him before tomorrow 
comes. Hence it is the part of wisdom and safe- 
ty to "pray without ceasing" and look ever to 
Him who is the same yesterday, today, and to- 
morrow. 

"He that glorieth,"says St. Paul, "let him glory 
in the Lord." Why in the Lord? Because he 



PRAYER 227 

who seeks his chief good in pleasure, or riches, 
or learning, or position, or any other created 
thing, glories in something which is passing away 
and is destined to fail in the hour of need, while 
he who glories in the Lord will find his feet upon 
a rock and his head above the clouds when the 
waves of adversity roll over him, or death meets 
him face to face. 

When we open the Bible we find therein very 
plain directions for those who pray. He who 
taught with authority said: "When thou prayest, 
enter into thine inner chamber, and when thou 
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in 
secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret, will 
give to thee in the light." 

No forms of prayer were given by the Lord. 
They were left to be formed by the spiritual con- 
ditions and needs of him who prays. Jesus 
warns against much speaking and vain repeti- 
tions, and gives a short example to show after 
what manner prayer should be made. 

The method of praying which Jesus here en- 
joins accords with the spirit of prayer — the out- 
breathing of the soul in the secret place of the 
Most High. When he who prays is thus moved, 
he instinctively enters his most private retreat 
and shuts himself in with God. This is the liter- 
al import of our Lord's command, but may there 
not be hidden in it a more spiritual meaning? 
Do we not in prayer enter into the inner, spiritual 
chamber of our being, and shutting out the world, 
find our Father who seeth in secret? Closing our 
eyes upon the things that are seen, "the eyes of 



228 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the heart," open to behold the invisible God re- 
vealing His presence. "When I pray," said Lady 
Tennyson, "I see the face of God smiling upon 
me." He who in the secret chamber of his soul 
beholds the face of God, walks through the world 
radiant with life, light and love. 

God's mercies are of old, His loving kindness 
from everlasting, and His delight has ever been 
with the sons of men ; yet there are many among 
the sons of men today who think the Divine Ruler 
of the world, as presented in the Old Testament, 
was cruel, narrow minded, and revengeful. In 
modern occidental thought the tendency is to push 
God out of human affairs, beyond the established 
order of the world, and to attribute all phenom- 
ena to the forces of Nature and the agency of 
man. The authors of Holy Scripture, on the 
other hand, were accustomed to think and speak 
of God as immanent in all the forces of Nature 
and in all the affairs of men. In natural phe- 
nomena and in the social relations of men they 
discerned the overruling power of Jehovah, and 
in special events they saw the directing "finger 
of God." Hence they wrote of the events of their 
times as if they came to pass through the direct 
power of God. They did not study the causes 
leading up to those events, nor magnify the 
agents engaged in effecting them. To guard 
against error, therefore, in studying the writings 
of the Bible we must bear in mind the modes of 
thought and expression prevailing when they 
were written. 

The best way to attain a correct idea of the 



PRAYER 229 

character of the God of Israel is to find out what 
their greatest and best men thought of Him. 

We have their idea of the power and wisdom 
of the Creator in the words, "He spake and it was 
done; He commanded, and it stood fast." 

Abraham looked to the Lord as "the Judge of 
all the earth," and felt that "He would do right." 

To Moses God proclaimed Himself, "Jehovah, 
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plente- 
ous in mercy." 

When Joshua was old he called together the 
elders, and the judges, and the officers of Israel, 
and said unto them, "Behold this day I am going 
the way of all the earth: and ye know in your 
hearts and in your souls that not one thing hath 
failed of all the good things which the Lord, your 
God, spake concerning you." 

When the people conspired against the Lord, 
and chose to have a king to reign over them, 
Samuel said unto them, "Ye have this day reject- 
ed your God, who Himself saveth you out of all 
your calamities and distresses." 

David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, sang: 

"Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; 
Sing unto Him a new song; 
For the word of the Lord is right, 
And all His work is done in faithfulness; 
. He loveth righteousness and judgment; 

The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord. 
O taste and see that the Lord is good; 
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." 

At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon, in 
his prayer, said: "0 Lord, the God of Israel, 
there is no God like Thee, in heaven above, nor 



230 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and 
mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee 
with all their hearts." To the people he declared, 
"There hath not failed one word of all His good 
promise, which He promised by the hand of 
Moses, His servant." 

The prophet Isaiah, whose lot fell upon evil 
times, testified that "The everlasting God, the 
Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faint- 
eth not, neither is weary ; there is no searching of 
His understanding. He giveth power to the 
faint and to him that hath no might He increas- 
eth strength." 

In his prayer for His people Daniel says, "As 
it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is 
come upon us ; yet have we not entreated the favor 
of the Lord our God, that we should turn from 
our iniquities and have discernment in thy truth. 
Therefore, the Lord watched over the evil, and 
brought it upon us ; for the Lord our God is right- 
eous in all His works, and we have not obeyed His 
voice." 

Nine competent witnesses have now testified. 
They all agree in their evidence concerning the 
character of the Lord their God. All the sacred 
writers concur in this evidence. When the Bible, 
therefore, is carefully and sincerely studied, it 
will become evident that the Creator who is made 
known to us in the first chapter of Genesis, and 
through the various books of the Bible as the 
Divine Sovereign of the nations, is the same un- 
changeable God who is revealed as Love in the 
last word of Revelation. Special customs and 



PRAYER 231 

laws, which, in the civilization of the twentieth 
century, seem harsh — though some of them are 
still in vogue — were permitted on account of the 
hardness of men's hearts, and for the purpose of 
meeting the needs and conditions of those times. 
The Lord, as everywhere revealed in the Bible, 
is the truth-loving, just, merciful God, who can- 
not look upon sin with any degree of allowance, 
but is ever ready to hear the cry of penitence and 
to answer the prayer of humility and faith. 

"The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon 
Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." Unlike 
the potentates of earth, who can only be ap- 
proached on special occasions and in prescribed 
forms, the Lord is ready everywhere and at all 
times to receive those who call upon His name, 
and the only conditions required, are penitence 
and faith. "He who sitteth upon the circle of 
the earth, who stretcheth out the heavens as a cur- 
tain, bringing out the host of the stars by number, 
by the greatness of His might, and calling them 
all by name," engraves his children, not merely 
their names but themselves, upon the palms of 
His hands. ''His eyes are over the righteous and 
His ears are open to their prayers." With what 
childlike confidence and assurance then ought we 
to come into the presence of God our Father! 
We need no letter of introduction, for we are en- 
graved upon the palms of His hands; we require 
no herald to announce our coming, for His eyes 
are over the righteous; nor do we need an inter- 
preter, for His ears, which distinguish the tones 
and accents of every language, are open to the 



232 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

prayers of all who draw near to Him. He is 
ever ready to receive us, ever glad to listen to our 
petitions, and ever able to grant our requests 
and to supply our needs. 

From myriads of altars all the world over the 
sweet incense of prayer, blessing and purifying 
the moral atmosphere, is hourly ascending to God. 
Every individual who ministers at these unseen 
altars is blessed and strengthened according to 
his faithfulness and devotion. He stands in the 
presence of Him who is Life, Light, and Love; 
and while he prays his spiritual life is renewed, 
the light that is in him grows brighter, and his 
love becomes more ardent. And while he is him- 
self blessed in offering prayer, others may become 
partakers, through his intercession, in his bless- 
ing, and the special prayer of faith may, through 
the power of the Holy Spirit, move the hearts of 
men to action, or direct and modify the forces of 
nature. Prayer moves the Arm that moves the 
worlds. John Wesley says, "Prayer has two 
effects: one upon God, and the other upon those 
who pray ;" and to these is added a third, namely, 
"the effect wrought by the Spirit of God upon 
those who are the subjects of prayer." So ac- 
customed was Wesley to receiving answers to 
prayer, and so fully did he expect to be heard, 
when he prayed, that he took it for granted he 
was heard and went on with his work. Charles 
H. Spurgeon so habitually received answers to 
prayer, in temporal affairs as well as in the 
spiritual life, that he looked upon them as "part 
and parcel of the established order of the uni- 
verse." 



PRAYER 233 

Prayer is one of the silent forces at work in 
the earth, and so things wrought thereby attract 
but little attention in the gay, busy, skeptical 
world. One of Tennyson's characters says : 

"More things are wrought by prayer 

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let Thy voice 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day; 

For what are men better than sheep and goats 

That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands in prayer 

Both for themselves and those who call them friends? 

For the whole round world is every way 

Bound by golden chains about the feet of God." 

Holding in the hand one of these golden chains, 
each one of us may look up and pray : 

0, Jehovah, our Lord~how excellent is Thy 
name in all the earth! All Thy works praise 
Thee. The heavens declare Thy glory and the 
firmament showeth Thy handiwork. Thou 
crownest the year with Thy goodness, and Thy 
paths are strewn with blessings suited to our 
needs. 

From the thraldom and the guilt of sin Thou 
art the only deliverer, the only Savior; amid the 
circling gloom of this world Thou art the only 
Light; in the turmoil and unrest of life Thou 
alone givest rest and peace. 

All our springs are in Thee, yet we are forget- 
ful of Thee. We forsake Thee, the fountain of 
living waters, and hew out for ourselves cisterns 
whose waters become stale and bitter. We turn 
aside from Thy paths and walk in our own ways. 
We pray, Thy Will be done, and then do our own 
will. We seek happiness and our highest good 



234 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

in the inventions of men — in the pleasures, and 
follies, and allurements of the world. In vain 
we strive to attain abiding peace and joy in what 
the world has to offer us, for Thou hast made us 
for Thyself, and uneasy are our hearts until they 
find rest in Thee. 

Thou art the Fountain of life; out of Thy life 
breathe life into our lives, that, being born from 
above, we may lead a new life, following the com- 
mandments, and have life more abundantly. 
Thou art the center of light; enable us to seek 
Thy face without ceasing, that we may evermore 
dwell in the light of Thy countenance, and have 
spirit, soul, and body full of light. Thou art the 
Source of love; make us one with Thee in Thy 
unchanging love, so that we may perfectly love 
Thee and be kindly affectioned one to another, 
forgiving one another and living a life of service 
and sacrifice. 

Enable us to live upon the high plane of purity 
and righteousness; may we abide with Thee in 
heavenly places and, having the eyes of our 
hearts enlightened, behold as in a mirror Thy 
glory and become more and more changed into 
Thy image and likeness, until our characters be- 
come arrayed in the beauty of holiness and in 
the holiness of beauty, and we show forth in our 
life and conduct all the gracious, and transform- 
ing, and refining influences of Thy glorious 
gospel. 

Let Thy word and Thy love dwell in us richly 
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that 
we may be able to discern the things that are 



PRAYER 235 

excellent. May we use the world as not abusing 
it, and enjoy Thy blessings without perverting 
them. Enable us so to control our thoughts, and 
emotions, and impulses, and so to order our steps 
that when the evening time of life comes it may 
be light, and we may be accounted meet to be par- 
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 
and to see the King in His Beauty and reign with 
Him forever. 



THE INCARNATION 



Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son 
and shall call his name Immanuel. 

— Isaiah 7:14. 



And she brought forth her first-born Son, and 
wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him 
in a manger. 

— Luke 2:7. 



God be thanked for that good and perfect gift, 
the gift unspeakable: His life, His love, His very- 
Self in Jesus Christ. 

— Maltbie D. Babcock. 



Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh 

that I seek 
In the Godhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be 
A Face like my face that receives thee; a man like to me 
Thou shalt love and be loved by forever; a Hand like 

this hand 
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the 

Christ stand! 

— Browning. 



Every unfulfilled aspiration of humanity in the 
past; all partial representation of perfect charac- 
ter; all sacrifices, nay even those of idolatry, point 
to the fulfillment of what we want, the answer to 
every longing — the type of perfect humanity, the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

— F. W. Robertson. 



We know in Thee the Fatherhood 
And Heart of God revealed. 

— J. G. Whittier. 



XIII 
THE INCARNATION 

The subject stated above is almost too sacred 
for criticism, or even investigation ; nevertheless, 
in "the spirit that inquires and yet believes," 
let us reverently consider some of the questions 
that it involves. 

As of other articles of faith, so of this, men 
differ in opinion. Some deny the facts stated by 
the evangelists, and others doubt, while a goodly 
number believe. As it is well for those who be- 
lieve to be able to give a reason for the faith that 
is in them relative to any subject that appeals 
to belief, we may very judiciously, and perchance 
also very profitably, examine the basis of our 
faith in the Virginal Birth of our Lord. The 
facts in the life of Jesus can only be reasonably 
accounted for by accepting the fact of His Divine 
Birth. And in His Birth into our world, as told 
by the evangelists, there is to them who believe 
in God the Creator really no more mystery than 
in an ordinary birth. Both belong in their es- 
sential nature to the mystery of life. 

Since the Virginal Birth of Jesus is enveloped 
in so much apparent darkness and mystery and 
is so generally misunderstood, let us try to turn 
more light on the subject and disperse some of 
the darkness. 

"All the myriad phenomena of the universe," 
according to the latest word of science, "are 



240 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

manifestations of a single animating principle, 
which is both infinite and eternal." This ani- 
mating principle, this persisting energy is the 
creating, animating word of God that is still 
vibrating in every atom and cell throughout the 
whole realm of nature. 

With this picture of nature before us we can 
readily see how natural and reasonable it would 
be for the Eternal Spirit, without the aid of a ma- 
terial medium, to infuse a spiritual germ-life into 
a material germ-cell, already quivering with vital 
energy. 

Just before His ascension Jesus said to the 
disciples: "Ye shall receive power when the 
Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be 
my witnesses." Words used to describe the work 
of the Holy Spirit lose, when so used, their gross, 
material meaning. In the scripture just quoted 
the word used by our Lord and translated "to 
come upon" is used also by St. Luke in relation to 
the Divine Conception. In both examples the 
word is used in its highest sense. As in the new 
spiritual birth the Holy Spirit "comes upon" the 
soul with power, and breathes into it a new life, 
so in the Virginal Conception He breathed a Di- 
vine germ-life into a virginal germ-cell, and thus 
imparted to it power to develop into the Divine 
Man — the only perfect Man that has ever lighten- 
ed our darkened world. 

Those who recognize above nature a Personal 
Being, of infinite power and wisdom, whose will 
is the working force of nature, hold that God, in 
the evolution of the universe, put forth creative 



THE INCARNATION 241 

energy and that he imparted genetic energy to the 
various species of living things, both vegetable 
and animal, on the earth ; so that by the union of 
two particles of germinal matter, differing in 
sexual qualities, plants and animals are propaga- 
ted and multiplied through the ages of the earth's 
history. These statements being admitted as 
facts, it must also be granted that God, who is 
the Power above nature, could, if He so willed, 
impart immediately to the ovule or germ-cell the 
energy necessary to enable it to develop into a 
living form. 

Adam and Eve were made, were created. 
Angels and all the heavenly hosts were made, — 
were the sons of God by creation; but when the 
Eternal Word was about to come into the world, 
God put into a living particle of germinal matter 
a Divine genetic force, and out of the union of 
these two life-forces or life-substances was begot- 
ten Jesus the Christ who, being in due time born 
into the world, thus had, united in His own per- 
son, two natures — the Divine and the human. 
Therefore, being born of a virgin, who represent- 
ed humanity, He was "the Son of Man," and 
being directly begotten by Divine power, He was 
also "the Son of God," and since all other br- 
ings are either immediately, or mediately, the 
products of creative power, He alone stands for 
ever and ever, "the only begotten Son of God." 

Into the created man God breathed the breath 
of life; into the Begotten Man God embodied 
His own Personality. 

In the plan of Divine Manifestation and Hu- 



242 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

man Redemption it was befitting that Jesus the 
Christ should draw part of His parentage from 
the special humanity that had been Divinely se- 
lected out of the best humanity, and from that 
person in it in whom, after ages of development 
and discipline, humanity had drawn nearest to 
God; it was also befitting that He should draw 
His life from the Fountain of All Life, thus mak- 
ing it evident to all the world "that in Him the 
Race was to find its spiritual center and true 
focus of reconciliation; and that from Him the 
very life of God should by very human means 
be conveyed into and become the life of men the 
whole world over. 

"For this is both the amazing claim and the 
equally amazing achievement of Jesus of Naz- 
areth: that by Him there should be inwrought 
into the hearts of men of the most utterly di- 
verse races, types, traditions and characters, the 
very temper and disposition of the Living God." 

The glorious gospel of Christ moves above the 
plane of human thought. Words fail in every at- 
tempt to give full expression to the experience 
of the individual who, born from above, leads 
a new life by walking and living in the Spirit 
— the Spirit of Christ. The incarnation, the life, 
the crucifixion, the resurrection and glorification 
of Jesus have always seemed foolishness to the 
cultured Greek and a stumbling block to the self- 
righteous Jew. The learning and wisdom of this 
world, in attempting to elucidate the Gospel, on- 
ly become more bewildering darkness. Viewed 
in its own white light, however, Christianity is 



THE INCARNATION 243 

seen to be, not out of harmony with great Nature, 
but in high accord with the plan of the universe. 
It is seen to be the highest, greatest work of the 
Creator — the power of God and the wisdom of 
God. The penitent, awakened, enlightened soul 
accepts it as the highest of all needs, and rests 
and rejoices in the Eternal Father's love that 
fore-ordained for us and presented to us "His 
unspeakable Gift." 

If we turn to the open book of nature and 
read its suggestive pages as they are interpreted 
by science we find that they more or less clearly 
point to a personal manifestation of Diety as the 
real secret, the ultimate purpose of the evolu- 
tion of the universe. "The whole doctrine of 
development, as it is conceived by the deepest 
and clearest minds," says Henry van Dyke, 
"looks forward to the discovery of an incarna- 
tion which shall be at once the crown and com- 
pletion of evolution. If nature is an orderly and 
progressive manifestation of an Unseen Power; 
if each successive step realizes and exhibits some- 
thing higher and more perfect, to which all that 
has gone before has pointed, and in which the 
potentialities of all previous developments are 
not only summed up, but raised to a new power; 
if the mechanical structure of inorganic sub- 
stances contains a prophecy (only to be inter- 
preted after the event) of organic life, and or- 
ganic life is a basis for instinct and the ele- 
mentary processes of intellect, and these rude 
processes of thought and feeling in the lower 
animals foreshadowed the unfolding of reflective 



244 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

reason and moral consciousness in man, — then 
surely this reflective reason and this moral con- 
sciousness, in themselves confessedly imperfect, 
must be only the foundation of a fuller and more 
perfect manifestation of that Unseen Power, out 
of whose depths all preceding manifestations have 
come forth. And if the universal verdict of hu- 
man Science and philosophy is correct in assum- 
ing that the lower must precede the higher, and 
that organic life is above inorganic life, and that 
reason is above instinct, and that virtue is above 
automatic action, then it is to be expected that 
the complete manifestation of that Unseen Power 
that makes for reason and righteousness will 
neither be omitted, nor intruded before its time. 
It cannot come too soon without violating the 
order of evolution. It cannot fail to come with- 
out destroying the significance of evolution. 

"But in what form can it come except in one 
which at once sums up all that has gone before 
it, and advances to a new level? If the universe 
contains an unveiling of the might and wisdom, 
of the reasonableness and righteousness of its 
Primal Cause, then certainly it must contain at 
last an unveiling of His personality. This is the 
only thing that remains to be added. This is 
the only thing that embraces all the rest and 
raises it to a new power. The highest category 
known to our minds is that of self-conscious life. 
Without the conception of a personal God man's 
view of the universe must remain forever incom- 
plete, incoherent, and unreasonable. Without 
the revelation of a personal God the process of 



THE INCARNATION 245 

evolution as the unfolding of the real secret of 
the universe must remain unfinished and futile. 
Philosophy as well as religion pushes us for- 
ward to this conclusion. Personality is the ulti- 
mate reality. Personality must be the final rev- 
elation. But a person can be unveiled only in 
personal form. Therefore all the presumptions 
of reason are in favor of an incarnation of the 
Diety, not outside of nature, but in nature, to 
consummate and crown that visible evolution 
whereby the invisible things of Him from the 
creation of the world are clearly seen. And all 
the processes of intelligence are satisfied, and 
rest and repose in the conviction that the Word 
who was in the beginning with God and who was 
God, and by whom all things were made, finally 
became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace 
and truth, revealing His glory, the glory as of 
the only begotten of the Father." 

With this process of evolution in the Works 
of God accords the account of the creation given 
in the Written Word of God. After finishing the 
work of creation "God saw everything that He 
had made and behold it was very good." Here 
we have from God a statement of approval after 
reviewing His works when finished. The Cre- 
ator on this review of the newly made works 
of His hands felt some degree of satisfaction. 
In this witness, however, to the goodness of His 
works there is no expression of joy and delight, 
negatively indicating that they were only rudi- 
mental and preparatory, and that in the un- 
folding of the universe there was something yet 



246 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

to come, an ultimate object not yet reached. 
When that object is attained we may look for 
another expression of approval, not merely from 
the Divine Mind, but also out of the Divine 
Heart. 

Cycles of human history roll by and kingdoms 
rise and fall until "in the fullness of time" He, 
who was born in Bethlehem amid the worshiping 
angels comes up out of the waters of the Jordan 
baptized for His life-work, when out of the open- 
ed heaven is heard a voice: "Thou art My Son, 
My Beloved ; in Thee I am well pleased." Herein 
is given, not merely the calm, unimpassioned 
judgment of God the Creator, but the most joy- 
ous and exultant expression of approval and love 
out of the Heart of God the Father. In His only 
begotten Son is not only manifested the power 
and wisdom of God, but also His tenderness and 
love. He is the flower of the creation, the high- 
est and most perfect expression of the Divine 
Nature. Jesus is the Light of the world — the 
Light in whose radiance all things grow brighter 
and clearer. He alone solves "the riddle of the 
universe." He is the "one great, bright Path- 
way which," says Charles Kingsley, "I find more 
and more to be the only escape from infinite 
confusion and aberration, the only explanation 
of a thousand human mysteries — I mean the In- 
carnation of our Lord, the fact that there really 
is a God-man." "The man who can accept Christ 
as the Son of God," says Dr. John Watson, "has 
got, I thoroughly believe, the secret of the uni- 
verse. He is in the way of life everlasting; he 



THE INCARNATION 247 

is walking in the path of light which will lead 
to the fullness of day." 

During the ages preceding the life of Jesus 
upon the earth, God revealed Himself to men 
in the beauty and goodness of His works, in 
types and shadows, and through the imperfect 
medium of human language; but when "the 
fullness of time" came as foretold by the proph- 
ets, He inaugurated in the little town of Beth- 
lehem the revelation of His love and beauty for 
which all preceding revelations and all the ante- 
cedent facts of history were preparatory. The 
Eternal Father becomes a child and lives a human 
life that Divinity might be manifested in hu- 
manity, "to the intent that now unto the prin- 
cipalities and powers in the heavenly places 
might be made known through the church the 
manifold wisdom of God, according the eter- 
nal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus 
our Lord;" and that humanity might be lifted 
up out of the slavery and darkness of sin into 
the liberty and light of "the gospel of the glory 
of Christ who is the image of God." 

Having now shown the possibility, the prob- 
ability, and the reasonableness of the Divine con- 
ception and birth recorded in the holy gospels, 
let us proceed to consider the question that first 
suggested the writing of this paper : "Why was 
it necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin?" 
To this question, born of that curiosity which 
moves the mind to inquire into the causes of 
things, especially those of an extraordinary char- 
acter, a composite answer must be given. The 



248 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

all-embracing reply is that it was God's order — 
a part of the beautiful and sublime plan of hu- 
man redemption and of Divine manifestation. 
God sent the Eternal Word into the world to 
live a human life and die on the Cross, not only 
that the world through Him might be saved, 
but also for the purpose of declaring the Father, 
and making Him known more fully to men and 
angels — to the principalities and powers of the 
universe. In the life of Jesus, therefore, God 
has probably given the supreme manifestation 
of the Divine Nature, not only in this world, but 
also in all worlds ; and hence "when He bringeth 
in the First-born into the world He saith, And 
let all the angels of God worship Him." 

Before the heavens were unfolded and the 
earth was prepared for the abode of man, the 
birth of Jesus was assigned its proper place in 
the unfolding of the universe, and when the 
first human pair through wilful disobedience 
marred the image which they bore of their good 
Creator, the first annunciaiton was made. In the 
Lost Garden the Lord God said to the agent of 
the tempter: "I will put enmity between thee 
and the woman, and between they seed and her 
seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
bruise His heel." Thus it was of the offspring 
of the woman, not of the man, concerning whom 
this oldest word of prophecy was uttered. From 
this distant and dim foreshadowing of the Com- 
ing One prophecy continued to become more and 
more explicit, till finally the evangelical prophet 
cries out: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and 



THE INCARNATION 249 

bear a Son." What Isaiah beheld in vision be- 
came, seven centuries later, real in the land of 
Israel, and was recorded by the holy evangelists. 
Thus the Eternal Word became man and lived 
a human life. "God was born of a woman that 
man might be born of God." 

In the virginal birth of our Lord there may 
be involved reasons that lie entirely beyond our 
range of thought. We must limit our study to 
those that fall within the narrow sweep of our 
knowledge. 

Through the disobedience of the woman in 
Eden the tempter and destroyer prevailed, and 
man thus became subject to "the law of sin and 
death." He sold himself into "bondage under 
the elements of the world" — "The lust of the 
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." 
So keenly did the families of old feel the oppres- 
sive force of this law that for their sins they 
offered in sacrifice the most costly of their pos- 
sessions, and, on occasions of great extremity, 
even sacrificed their first-born son, the fruit of 
their bodies, for the sin of their souls. 

Holy Scripture announces the law that "with- 
out the shedding of blood there is no remission," 
but in "the nature of things" it is not possible 
for even the priceless blood of the first-born son 
to take away sin. That man might be delivered 
from the law of sin that he has imposed upon 
himself, and that "God might be just in justify- 
ing him who believes," the shedding of blood 
infinitely more precious than that of any cre- 
ated being was necessary. God chose, doubtless, 



250 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the best and probably the only way in which 
the required sacrifice could be made for man's 
rescue from the curse of sin. In the mightiest 
created arm there was no power that could break 
sin's yoke. In the life of the tallest archangel 
there was no efficacy that could bring salvation 
to a lost and ruined race. To counteract the 
deadly poison of sin and save humanity the anti- 
dote must be sought in uncreated Power. Sin 
is a crime against the Divine Government. In 
the act of sinning man forfeited life. Now, as 
God alone can give life, He alone can restore 
forfeited life. And as the law requires life for 
life, He alone could pay the price for life for- 
feited. God, therefore, sought in Himself the 
means of satisfying His own sense of justice, 
and in the fullness of time made atonement for 
sin, thus making it possible for man to have 
life restored and to have it in abundance. 

In the Living Oracles wherein the work of 
human redemption is unfolded, we learn that 
"from the days of eternity" there was with the 
Father, the Living Word," who "had all power 
in heaven and in earth, by whom all things were 
made." He, "according to the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of God" undertook for 
helpless, enslaved humanity the arduous work of 
redemption, and "when the fullness of time came 
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born 
under the law, that He might redeem them who 
are under the law, that we might receive the 
adoption of sons." The plan of redemption, thus 
ordained and executed through the justice and 



THE INCARNATION 251 

love of God, gives us an overwhelming realization 
of "the infinite holiness and sensitiveness of the 
Divine Law. There is no point in immensity 
where the finger of sin can touch it without that 
touch being felt by Him who ordained it." 

Our faith in the birth of Jesus, as recorded 
in the holy Gospels, rests upon the voice of 
prophecy as heard in the Living Oracles of God, 
and upon the plain, simple, unimpeachable testi- 
mony of the blessed virgin-mother, as recorded 
by St. Luke the evangelist and "beloved physi- 
cian." Her witness, accepted without dissent by 
the disciples, was necessary on the human side 
of the case, to establish belief in the Virgin- 
birth of our Lord, and she could give that wit- 
ness only by maintaining her virginity till after 
His birth. Her evidence was made indisputable 
by the accompanying circumstances which, 'had 
they so transpired as to throw doubt upon it, 
would have caused her character to be assailed, 
and she would have become chargeable with the 
deepest and most barefaced hypocricy and sin. 
Nothing, however, intervened that could throw 
a shadow of doubt upon her testimony. She 
knew in her own mind and heart, and from the 
annunciation of the divine messenger that the 
conception of her First-born Son was effected 
by Divine Power, and so exalted was her char- 
acter for purity and truthfulness, and so accord- 
ed the life of Jesus with her statement that there 
was no room left for doubt. Indeed, her belief 
in these facts of her experience, concerning which 
her knowledge admitted of no doubt, must have 



252 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

had great influence in confirming the faith of 
those who first accepted the claims of her Son 
and Lord. 

In addition to the voice of prophecy and the 
witness of the highly favored virgin, we have 
in the first inspired dream of Joseph, as record- 
ed by St. Matthew, the angelic testimony to the 
Divine-human birth of Jesus. The value of this 
witness cannot be overestimated. Such is an- 
gelic knowledge and veracity that there can be 
no flaw in angelic evidence. So Joseph thought, 
and hence received with implicit faith the tes- 
timony of the angel and followed his direction. 

The purpose for which the Eternal Word came 
into our world and lived a human life required 
an extraordinary birth. Had Jesus come into the 
world by ordinary generation, He would not have 
been "the Son God" in any special sense; He 
would not have been "the Son of man," but 
only the son of a man; and there could 
have been no efficacy in His offering Him- 
self, a sacrifice for the sin of the world, 
nor any merit in His appearing as our 
Advocate in the Court of Heaven. He would 
only have been a man among men, and His death 
upon the Cross would have been of no more 
significance than that of Peter, or of some other 
great and good man. An extraordinary birth 
was, therefore, necessary for the Redeemer and 
Savior of men. For Him who "came to put away 
sin by the sacrifice of Himself," who was "man- 
ifested that He might destroy the works of the 
devil;" who was "God manifested in the flesh," 



THE INCARNATION 253 

it was necessary to be Virginally born and Di- 
vinely born. Only such a birth accords with 
the life, and words and works of Jesus, as re- 
corded in the Holy Gospels. 

The incarnation of the only-begotten Son of 
God, from its inception to its consumation, was 
pure and spotless. The immaculate conception 
occurred, not in the genesis of the blessed Vir- 
gin-mother, but in the parthenogenesis of her 
first-born Son. It is not said of her that she 
was without sin, but of her Son and Lord it 
is written that "He was tempted in all points 
like as we are, yet without sin;" that "He did 
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 
There was "no fault in Him." 

We doubt not for a moment that God, who 
can change common clay into the emerald, and 
transform carbon into the diamond, could make 
an ordinary conception immaculate, but that 
would require a special and unnecessary inter- 
position of Divine Power. Since God does not 
expend energy unnecessarially, nor outside of the 
demands of the Divine Order, and since the word 
"blessed" is the highest term used in the Gospels 
relative to the Virgin-mother, the inference that 
the only immaculate conception was that of "Him 
in whom was no sin" is, therefore, clear and con- 
clusive. The Divine genetic power that moved 
to vital action the ovule, produced in the ovary 
of the blessed virign, sanctified at the same time 
that human germ, so that the product of its evo- 
lution was pure and holy. Jesus was immac- 
ulate in His conception, made so in the simplest 



254 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and most natural way conceivable; was immac- 
ulate in His life, in thought, word, and deed; 
and triumphed through His purity and holiness 
over the tempter and enemy of humanity. 

The attempt, through "regard for sound schol- 
arship and established conclusions," to account 
for the circumstances attending the birth of 
Jesus, on the common legendary and mythical 
instinct of mankind, is neither creditable to 
sound scholarship, nor to sound common sense. 
"The common working of human faith and hu- 
man imagination under every sky," it is urged, 
"gives substantially the same fairy-tales and 
folk-lore." Among these myths everywhere prev- 
alent was "the idea of hero worship and incar- 
nations which," it is claimed, "was familiar and 
popular." This idea was "familiar and popular" 
in India, but incarnations were never familiar 
and popular, nor even recognized, among the He- 
brews, and only among the Greeks in their early 
history; and hero worship in the Roman world, 
including the Hellenic and the Jewish, had well- 
nigh died out before the advent of our Lord. 
The fact is, "sound scholarship," so called, fails 
to distinguish between the true and the false in 
the world of religious thought. 

The difference between the statements in the 
holy Gospels relating to the birth of Jesus and 
those of a mythical character, is the difference 
between genuine coinage and that which is coun- 
terfeit. The account given by the evangelists 
carries its own evidence of truthfulness in the 
simple, natural, and ungarnished statement of 



THE INCARNATION 255 

the facts related. No character stands out so 
prominently and so clearly in history as that of 
Jesus of Nazareth. The consistency, and the 
completeness, and the beauty of His life cannot 
be accounted for without admitting, as historical 
facts, the events recorded of His birth. In the 
apocryphal gospels of the Infancy, abounding in 
puerilities and prodigies, we have fair samples 
of the literary fruits of human thought when 
influenced by a love of the mythical and marvel- 
ous. But how unlike these is the account of 
the Infancy given by St. Matthew and St. Luke. 
In their statements we have the soberness of his- 
tory and the wisdom of God. 

The circumstances attending the birth of Jesus, 
when carefully considered, point to a directing 
power above the concurring facts that enter in- 
to the history of the unique event. The decree 
of Augustus Caesar, made when Quirinius was 
governor of Syria, that all the Roman world 
should be enrolled, forced out of Nazareth into 
the highways Joseph, the carpenter, and Mary, 
his espoused wife. They had to take a journey 
of a hundred miles to enroll their names in the 
proper register; for though peasants, royal blood 
flowed in their veins and they belonged to the 
city of David. "And it came to pass while they 
were there, the days were fulfilled that she should 
be delivered. And she brought forth her first- 
born Son ; and she wrapped Him in swaddling 
clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there 
was no room for them in the inn." Thus the will 
of the Roman emperor, like an invisible hand, 



256 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

forced the humble virgin along the tedious jour- 
ney from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and unwitting- 
ly caused the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy : 
"But, thou Bethlehem Ephratha, which art little 
to be among thousands of Juda, out of thee shall 
One come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in 
Israel; whose goings-forth are from old, from 
everlasting." 

"O little town of Bethlehem, 

How still we see thee lie; 
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep 

The silent stars go by; 
Yet, in thy dark streets shineth 

The Everlasting Light; 
The hopes and fears of all the years 

Are met in thee tonight." 

In little Bethlehem, therefore, came and went 
the greatest event in the world's history; and 
yet the world had no room but that of a stable 
for its new-born King. Necessity gave Him the 
lowliest apartment of the inn for His birthplace 
and a manger for His cradle. Born thus, a help- 
less babe in the department of the Bethlehem 
Kahn assigned to its mute guests, Jesus, the new- 
ly born King, commenced in humble environ- 
ment that life which, though meek and lowly, 
was more than kingly in grace, beauty and power. 
The heart of every Christian experiences the 
spiritual reality of which the lowly birth at Beth- 
lehem is the symbol. "The Christ is always born 
in the life of a man at the lowliest point, in 
order that He may be divinest in His power to 
save." "Jesus, the loftiest, enters, as Jesus ever 
must, at the lowliest point." 



THE INCARNATION 257 

Nothing connected with God's plans and work 
is without special significance. Hence, there is 
in every event connected with the birth and life 
of our Lord a definite meaning and purpose. The 
words that He spoke and the works that He per- 
formed were given Him by the Father; the in- 
cidents of His life were of Divine direction, and 
each one was fitted into its proper place. 

The life of Jesus, "who was to illustrate di- 
vinity at its loftiest by dwelling in humanity 
at its lowliest," was lowly and humble. He hum- 
bled Himself in the lowly place of His birth, in 
His home in despised Nazareth, in the course that 
He pursued in His public ministry, and in the 
mode of death that He chose to die. As the 
world had no place for Him at His birth, so it 
continued to refuse Him a place "where to lay 
His head," and when the opportunity came He 
was violently forced out of the world. The 
stone manger that first held His tender body 
proved to be the symbol of His cold hard way 
through life. 

The ass, most humble, most lowly, and the 
least pretentious of animals, was present at the 
nativity of Jesus, thus representing the mute 
creatures of the earth which are part of "the 
creation that groaneth and travaileth in pain with 
us," on account of man's degeneration, and are 
"waiting for the revealing of the sons of God." 
The mediatorial work of Christ, as here indi- 
cated, reaches down in benediction even to the 
mute animal. 

"To the principalities and powers in the heav- 



258 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

enly places" the Divine manifestation in Jesus 
made known the manifold wisdom of God. When, 
therefore, "God's only Son" was born into the 
world all the angels of God worshiped Him. An 
angel of the Lord announced His coming, and 
a multitude of the heavenly hosts, bursting 
through the cloud that hides them from mortal 
vision, appeared to the good shepherds in the 
fields of Bethlehem, "saying, glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, good will to- 
ward men." Then came the good shepherds with 
haste to the Kahn and found the babe, as the 
angel had said, lying in a manger. 

While these events were quietly coming to pass 
in Judea, a new but long expected star shone 
out in the heavens, and was discerned in the East 
as the star of the newly born King of the Jews 
by Magi of the Far East who, after a journey 
of many months, came, guided by the star, into 
the house where the holy family was then liv- 
ing- in Bethlehem, "and saw the young child 
with Mary, His mother. And they fell down and 
worshiped Him; and opening their treasures, 
they offered unto Him gifts, — gold, and frank- 
incense, and myrrh." 

These wise and good men, pilgrims from an- 
cient Persia, represented at the cradle of the Lord 
the wise and good of the Gentiles, as the good 
shepherds did the devout in Israel. The birth 
of Jesus, the new-born King, was thus honored 
by the mute creatures of the Kahn, represent- 
ing the animal families of the earth ; by the out- 
shining of the Lord's star, representing the ma- 



THE INCARNATION 259 

terial universe; by the devout shepherds and the 
coming of the Magi, who represented the hu- 
man family, Jew and Gentile; and by the wor- 
ship of all the angels of God. At the coming 
of the Heir of Universal Dominion, as was be- 
fitting, all parts of the universe were represent- 
ed, in acknowledgement of submission and loyalty. 

Of one order of beings, however, that, like the 
angels of God, move unseen through the earth, 
no mention is made. "The angels that kept not 
their first estate" had no representative at the 
birth of the King. His sovereignty they re- 
pudiated, and His reign they will oppose till He 
has put all enemies under His feet. 

Mary, the Virgin-mother, kept all the facts 
attending the birth of Jesus through the years 
that followed, "pondering them in her heart;" 
and while living in Jerusalem, in the home of 
the beloved disciple, she related them to the apos- 
tles and evangelists, who placed upon record for 
the instruction of the whole world, as full an 
account of them as they, guided by the Spirit of 
truth, were moved to give. 

Our Lord left no word relating to His advent 
into the world, but His Virgin Life, set forth 
in His words and works, as they are recorded 
in the Holy Gospels, is a perpetual witness to 
the truth of the statements made concerning His 
Virgin Birth by St. Matthew and St. Luke. In 
His Life there was no inconsistency — no discord- 
ant note. The wonder of His Birth fitted beau- 
tifully the wonder of His Life, and out of His 
wonderful Life fittingly came His voluntary 



260 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Death upon the Cross, His glorious Resurrection 
out of the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, 
and His triumphant Ascension "far above all 
heavens." 

In the Incarnation of the Eternal Word God 
has given us the supreme revelation of His own 
Personality, and the true Ideal of humanity re- 
deemed and perfected. 



THE TEACHER COME FROM 
GOD" 



Out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the 
word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

— Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2. 



The multitudes were astonished at His teach- 
ing; for He taught them as having authority. 
— Matthew 7:29. 



You never get to the end of Christ's words. 
There is always something in them behind. They 
pass into proverbs — they pass into laws — they 
pass into doctrines — they pass into consolations; 
but they never pass away, and, after all the use 
that is made of them, they are still not exhausted. 
— Dean Stanley. 



Christ's method is divine. His words have the 
charm of antiquity with the freshness of yester- 
day; the simplicity of a child with the wisdom of 
God; the softness of kisses from the lips of love 
and the force of the lightning rending the tower. 
H''s parables are like groups of matchless statuary; 
His prayers like an organ peal floating round the 
world and down the ages, echoed by the mountain 
peaks and plains into rich and varied melody, in 
which all devout hearts find their noblest feelings 
at once expressed, sustained, and refined. His 
truths are self-evidencing. They fall into the 
soul as seed into the ground, to rest and germi- 
nate. He speaks, and all nature and life become 
vocal with theology. 

— Bishop Edward Thomson. 



XIV 
THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 

That the human family needs a "Teacher 
come from God" cannot be disputed. The great- 
est and wisest among men claim the possession 
of only a small stock of knowledge and wisdom, 
even with regard to the world in which we live. 
The originators and propagators of systems of 
philosophy and religion, while following the ob- 
scure light of tradition and intuition, the un- 
certain teaching of analogy, and the unauthor- 
itative conclusions of deduction, were ever con- 
scious of the need of more light than reason 
could furnish them. Confucius, when asked to 
teach something about the future life, replied: 
"I know not this life; how shall I teach any- 
thing about the life to come?" Plato longed for 
the coming of a Divine Teacher. 

The ideas concerning "the three essential ele- 
ments of religion — God and man, and their mu- 
tual recognition; out of which, when put into 
practice, spring worship, love, and reward," were 
comparatively clear, simple and correct in the 
early history of the first nations of the old 
world. "So also was the first worship — a song 
and a prayer, natural to a soul, joyous, hope- 
ful, and loving its Maker;" now and then a 
simple offering or an atoning sacrifice being 
added. This was true of religious thought and 
custom in Egypt, in India, in Greece, and in 



264 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

all the ancient nations and tribes. Among some 
of the early clans, especially the Persians, the 
name and knowledge of the true God continued 
long, in comparative purity. There were many, 
like Melchizedec, who worshiped "the Most High 
God." Plutarch, says that "Numa, following the 
doctrine of Pythagoras, who was of opinion that 
the First Cause was not an object of sense, nor 
liable to passion, and discernible only by the 
mind, forbade the Romans to represent the Diety 
in the form either of man or beast. Nor was 
there among them formerly any image or statue 
of the Divine Being. During the first hundred 
and seventy years, they built temples indeed, and 
other sacred domes, but placed in them no figure 
of any kind, persuaded that it is impious to re- 
present things divine by what is perishable, and 
that we can have no conception of God but by 
the understanding." 

Time gradually obscured these primitive ideas 
and customs — divine revelations made to man 
in the beginning and carried by Noah across the 
flood — while reason and impulse, not satisfied to 
let truths like these alone, added myths and sys- 
tems of mingled truth and error, filling every 
place, earth, air, and sky, with false deities, and 
imposing upon the credulous, oppressive and 
even sensual service and worship. 

While the first cycle of history, commencing 
with Noah, was passing away and the nations 
were organizing within their appointed bound- 
aries, the knowledge of God was fading out of 
the human heart, and men, "though knowing 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 265 

God, glorified Him not as God, neither gave 
thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, 
and their senseless heart was darkened. Pro- 
fessing themselves to be wise, they became fool- 
ish, and changed the image of the incorruptible 
God for the likeness of an image of corruptible 
man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, 
and creeping things." Extinguishing thus 
through vain reasoning, inflated wisdom, and 
moral corruption the light possessed by the prim- 
itive men, the wise and the prudent of the an- 
cient kingdoms, in the hardness of their heads 
and hearts, were left to grope their way in the 
gloom of speculative investigation and the dark- 
ness of Superstition. And "as they decided not 
to have God in their knowledge," nature even 
refused to give up to them the key to her se- 
cret laws and forces. In vain were inquiries 
made as to whence things came to be, how they 
came to be as they are, wliat they are, and what 
they are to be. Only in reecnt times, indeed, 
have men been learning what things are, and 
penetrating into the hidden elements and forces 
of matter and life. But even now, while men 
are finding in nature answers to the question, 
what? science gets no positive response to the 
questions, how? whence? whither? To illumi- 
nate these the lamp of science must be lighted 
by a flame not of science. 

To prevent the true knowledge and worship 
of God from becoming lost among men, one 
family was chosen to be conservators of the 
truth already given, and recipients of additional 



266 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

truth. Located, after four hundred years of 
wandering and training, in a central place among 
the nations, though but little better themselves, 
with individual exceptions, than their neighbors, 
the chosen people became the custodians of truths 
that silently and steadily influenced the thought 
of the world around them. Through the truths, 
thus committed to their keeping, the contem- 
porary nations were more or less blessed and 
prepared for the coming of the "One greater 
Man" in whom God had given the promise to 
Abraham that all nations of the earth should 
be blessed. 

As God raised up prophets in Israel, so He gave 
great teachers in the Gentile world. Gautama in 
India, Confucius in China, Socrates and others in 
Greece, born with endowments of mind and heart 
and blessed with conditions and culture that en- 
abled them to develop into intellectual and moral 
princes, each evolving systems of thought in con- 
formity with his environment, were powerful 
factors in the intellectual, social, and religious 
life of their people and of the world. Their 
teaching, however, though containing excellent 
practical rules, much elevating thought, and more 
or less truth, rested only on the sanction of tra- 
dition, intuition, and speculative genius — a 
foundation far too defective and narrow to build 
on for eternity. The yearning of the human heart 
for something substantial and authoritative, upon 
which to rest its faith and hope, demands a teach- 
er from other than an earthly source. The earn- 
est, sincere soul longs for a Divine Teacher. 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 267 

Has no provision been made for this want in our 
nature? Is this, the most vital of our needs, 
left unsupplied? No, no! Our Father in the 
heavens, who created no faculty or instinct 
without its counterpart, has sent into the world 
a Divine Teacher, and whoever beholds with clear 
vision Jesus of Nazareth will confess, as did 
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews : "Rabbi, we know 
that Thou art a Teacher come out from God." 
Before commencing to teach, before gathering 
any disciples about Him, Jesus received, as was 
befitting a Teacher come from God, spiritual 
endowment for His work, and the approval of 
Heaven. Coming up out of the water after His 
Baptism, the Heavens were opened unto Him, and 
the Holy Spirit, in a bodily form like a dove, 
descended upon Him. This form was seen only 
by Jesus and John; and a voice, heard only by 
them, came also out of Heaven, saying, "Thou art 
My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased." 
This was the Divinely-given sign by which John 
was to recognize the Great Teacher, and of this 
he bore witness to his disciples. During the 
transfiguration on Mt. Hermon, toward the close 
of the earthly ministry of Jesus, this voice was 
again heard out of "the excellent glory," and then 
was added the charge: "Hear ye Him." This 
charge was omitted in the sign given to John, 
the baptizer. He had received His message and 
had nearly fulfilled his course, but Peter, James, 
and John were disciples of Jesus. It was, there- 
fore, not only essential for them to hear Heaven's 
approval of their Master, but also to hear what 



268 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the Father had given Him to teach, and to be- 
come assured beyond doubt that what He taught 
came from the Fountain-head of knowledge, and 
was, consequently, of unquestionable authority. 
They heard for the other apostles and for the 
human family the voice of approval: "This is 
My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" to 
which was added the voice of authority: "Hear 
ye Him." 

Jesus was, therefore, according to His creden- 
tials, a Teacher come out from God. He crossed 
from above the line between God and man. He 
came out of the unseen world into the seen; He 
was a citizen of both worlds ; and the whole world 
of truth was spread out before Him. The law 
was given by Moses, and fragments of knowl- 
edge were imparted by the prophets, but, "grace 
and truth came by Jesus Christ." He brought 
truth from Heaven to earth — was the embodi- 
ment of truth, was the truth. He spoke that 
which he knew and testified of that which He 
saw. He was Master of all truth and spoke as 
easily on the most profound subjects as men talk 
on the common affairs of life. Not only phe- 
nomena were manifest to Him, but also substance 
and cause, powers and forces. In Him dwelt all 
the treasures of knowledge and wisdom. Conse- 
quently, His teaching rested not, like that of men, 
on tradition, investigation, and deduction, but 
on His own unlimited knowledge. Therefore, 
He taught with authority and power, so that men 
were filled with astonishment at His teaching. 

Independent and masterly thought leads to 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 269 

fearless utterance. Jesus, though meek and low- 
ly in person and humble in environment, possess- 
ed infinite resources within His own mind and 
heart. He did not base His teaching even on 
the "Living oracles" entrusted to the custody of 
Israel. He was careful that none of the Scrip- 
tures should be broken, and as they testified of 
Him, He used them to prove the validity of His 
teaching and claims. In the sight of men "He 
was only a poor peasant from a despised prov- 
ince, without any following, single-handed and 
alone ; yet He hesitates not to attack any doctrine 
however popular, any authorities however power- 
ful; He never bends to the lofty, nor looks 
askant at the most humble." He taught openly 
and boldly. 

The power of His teaching was equalled by 
the love that flowed in it. The kindness and 
gentleness of His heart poured grace upon His 
lips. The officers who were sent to arrest Him 
returned helpless, saying : "Never man spake like 
this Man." His enemies bore witness to "The 
gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth." 
He taught with simplicity, grace and beauty. 

Jesus was impartial in His teaching. He rec- 
ognized no class. Wherever and whenever He 
found a heart willing to hear the truth He gave 
the needed instruction. Nor did He ever modify 
in the least His teaching to accommodate the 
prejudices or win the favor of His hearers. He 
taught with equal plainness and force the proud, 
scholarly pharisee and ruler who came to Him by 
night; the rich, prepossessing young man who 



270 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

went away sorrowing; and the poor, disreputable 
woman at Jacob's well. He addressed men as 
men. He taught the universal brotherhood of 
men. 

All truth, all goodness, all beauty center in 
Christ. His teaching is the standard of all 
spiritual truth. "By His word we test all doc- 
trines, conclusions and commands. This is the 
source of authority in the kingdom of heaven. 
If Christ did not know and preach the truth then 
there is no truth that can be known or preached." 
If Christ is not the Light of the world, then the 
world has no light. 

In training His disciples, Jesus encouraged 
them to ask questions. He sometimes set His 
teaching in obscure statement to excite the ques- 
tioning instinct. This method awakened the 
minds of His disciples to intense activity, and 
started in them various sorts of perplexities, and 
then they came to Him for their solution. 

In the teaching of Socrates a similar method 
was used. He would ask question after question 
from different sides and angles of the subject 
under consideration. 

Both methods had in view the same end, name- 
ly, to awaken in the mind independent activity. 
There is, however, a very important distinction 
between them. Socrates asked the questions and 
his disciples tried to answer them. Jesus incited 
his disciples to ask questions which He answered. 
The ultimate purpose in each case caused this 
distinction. The chief aim in the school of phi- 
losophy was mental discipline ; the answers to the 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 271 

questions were of minor importance. In the 
realm of philosophy this may be a very wise 
object, but it would be very unwise in the domain 
of religion. It was chiefly saving truth of which 
Jesus was the Teacher. In the pursuit of this 
the mind is also developed and disciplined, but 
we dare not rest satisfied with the pursuit alone. 
We must have the answers to the questions of 
the soul and incorporate them into our life. 
Hence, while Socrates questioned, Jesus answer- 
ed questions; and to Him men, after floundering 
in the mazes of doubt and inquiry, will always 
have to come for the solution of the problems of 
the soul. "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life." 

The teaching of Jesus was unique. It differed 
so widely from that of other teachers that, while 
there are many lines of contrast, there are but 
few of comparison. The great teachers of the 
world were educated in the schools, founded their 
teaching mainly on scholastic authority, and 
taught according to scholastic methods. Jesus, 
until He was about thirty years old spent His 
time toiling in the carpenter shop of Nazareth. 
His home and the synagogue of His city fur- 
nished the elements and the sum of His earth- 
ly education. He was not learned in the scholas- 
tic sense. He was not a man of letters. He 
sought no school. 

The great teachers collected about them the 
learned and scholarly. Their teaching reached 
not the ignorant and the lowly. Jesus chose as 
His disciples plain, unlettered men, with no thirst 



272 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

for merely human learning, and developed in 
them thought, energy, and character unequaled 
in the schools. 

The great teachers of the world evolved finely 
spun theories, worked out visionary systems of 
doctrine, and laid down rules relating to the most 
trivial duties. Jesus indulged in no speculative 
discussions, organized no system of doctrine, and 
formed no code of rules. His teaching was spirit 
and life, having in it the elements of growth and 
development. He instilled into the minds of His 
disciples great living principles, applicable to 
every condition in life, and to the needs of every 
individual. 

The great teachers spent their time largely in 
deducing conclusions from premises real or as- 
sumed, and their knowledge, to a great extent, 
consisted of these uncertain conclusions. Jesus 
never philosophizes. He never investigates nor 
goes through reasoning processes for Himself. 
He utters the most profound truths with the ut- 
most ease and beauty. He never doubts nor hesi- 
tates; never is snared nor surprised; never blun- 
ders nor makes a mistake. Once when talking 
to the Jews about truth that comes from God, 
and lies that are the offspring of the devil, He 
fearlessly challenged them: "Which of you con- 
victeth Me of error?" That challenge still 
floats from the oft-assaulted but unshaken battle- 
ment of truth erected by Jesus. 

Other teachers were of the earth. In its dark- 
ness those of them who were earnest and sincere 
felt after God and searched for truth. Jesus 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 273 

came out from God ; He descended out of the clear 
light of heaven into our world; He dwelt in tha 
white light of truth and knew the truth. His 
teaching was, therefore, clear, luminous, and pos- 
itive, while that of others was dark, doubtful, and 
uncertain. 

Other teachers taught merely moral reforma- 
tion, secured by forsaking evil ways, and spiritu- 
al elevation attained by self-abnegation and good 
works. Jesus taught the necessity of a higher 
spiritual life, to be entered by a spiritual birth, 
followed by moral reformation as a natural se- 
quence, and spiritual elevation in thought, mo- 
tive, and impulse. 

"The teaching of Jesus," says Henry van 
Dyke, "differs from that of all other masters in 
its fontal quality. It is comprised in a little 
space, but has an infinite fullness. Its utterance 
is closely bounded, but its significance is inex- 
haustible. The sacred books of other religions, 
the commentaries and exposition of writers on 
the Christian religion, spread before us a vast 
and intricate expanse, like lakes of truth mixed 
with error, stretching away into the distance, 
arm after arm, bay after bay, until we despair 
of being able to explore their coasts and trace 
their windings. When we come back to Christ 
we find, not an inland sea of doctrine, but a clear 
fountain of living water springing up into ever- 
lasting life. 

"Calm, pure, unfathomable, it is never clouded 
and it never fails. The inspiration of other 
teachers rises and falls like an intermittent 



274 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

spring. Today it is brimming full ; tomorrow it \% 
empty and dry. The Spirit always rests upon 
Him. The Father is always with Him. Out of 
the deep serenity of His soul, as from some sacred 
vale of peace high among the eternal hills, the 
living spring of truth wells up forever, and for- 
ever the crystal stream runs down to refresh and 
revive the souls of men." 

Jesus found always the point of human need 
and perplexity, and every word He spoke went 
straight to the mark. "He spoke of sin and an- 
nounced a credible pardon, thus addressing Him- 
self to what is perennially the bitterest of all hu- 
man troubles : He spoke of the cares and distress- 
es of daily life, unveiling the fretful and selfish 
anxieties which run under the current of men's 
lawful enterprises, and pointing the way to a 
simple, unharassed life: He spoke of the homely 
virtues, of ailments in character, of the precious- 
ness of opportunity : He spoke of the human soul, 
of its rights, its worth even in the most degraded 
and self-despairing, its responsibilities, its possi- 
bilities, and the issues which may lie before it: 
He spoke confidently and convincingly of God 
as Father and an accessible Spirit, so answering 
and satisfying the deepest Godward craving in 
men ; and He dwelt most of all on God's holy and 
gracious purposes for mankind in the establish- 
ment of the Kingdom of God, a condition of 
things in which all unrighteousness would be 
done away, and man would be reunited to man 
and brought into fellowship with God in a life 
goverened by love, and indestructible by death." 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 275 

Jesus did not preach a distant, metaphysical 
God, dwelling alone in eternal sovereignty, and in- 
different about the welfare of His subjects, nor a 
kingdom of the skies vaguely posthumous, but a 
God near at hand radiating in Him, the King of 
Kings, a Divine Kingdom of which He said: "It 
is at hand; it is in you; the strong force an en- 
trance into it." He did not teach us a religion of 
inert contemplation but of action and life. Poor 
Himself, He went to the poor ; suffering, He went 
to the suffering; a Man of Sorrows, He bore the 
burdens of the sorrowful. "His was not a re- 
ligion of pious memories which in wonderful 
caskets shut up treasures of long ago that are 
now useless among men. He taught a religion 
for all time, addressing Himself not only to the 
conscience of His contemporaries, but speaking 
of things and conditions which are not existing 
even yet. He had the faith that moves moun- 
tains. Such a religion does not resign itself to 
evil; it declares war against it. It does not 
prostrate itself in mere Platonic worship of the 
good ; it wishes that the good may be, and strives 
to create it. It labors, sows, forges, and builds. 
It is creator, in a word, and permeates the world 
as leaven does the dough." 

When Jesus began to teach lurid shadows hung 
over the unseen world, and impenetrable dark- 
ness veiled the future. In the heathen world, 
the most luminous altar was that dedicated to 
the unknown God ; and among the chosen people 
a Hebrew monarchy, having dominion over the 
nations of the earth, was the ideal future. Out- 



276 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

side of this world and beyond this life hung the 
fearful shadows of the unknown. The dim, flick- 
ering light of philosophy sent no ray out into 
these shadows. When men looked into the tomb 
they saw no light on the other side. Darkness 
ahead of them, darkness around them, and dark- 
ness above them without intermission reigned. 
That voice which has filled the world with light 
and hope rung out through those shadows: "I am 
the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in 
Me, though he die yet shall he live. And who- 
soever liveth and believeth in Me shall never 
die." To the upright in heart and to those 
who are seeking soul-rest and peace there 
now ariseth light in the darkness, and the 
shadows disperse. Jesus alone has taught us 
anything with clearness and authority on the un- 
seen and unknown. 

Jesus illuminated life and made it worth liv- 
ing. He showed how, amid its cares, and sor- 
rows, and bereavements, we may have content- 
ment, and blessedness. Buddha taught that 
all existence is evil and vanity. The outgrowth 
of existence is pain and sorrow, the cause of 
which is desire, and hence rest can only be found 
in extinguishing desire by virtuous self-discipline 
ending in the oblivion of self-consciousness. 
Jesus taught that existence is real and good; 
that life is a blessing; that we should glory in 
God and rejoice evermore; that forgiveness of 
sin and soul-rest are to be found in Him, the meek 
and the lowly, the loving and all-sufficient Savior. 
"Come unto Me," He cries, "all ye that are weary 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 277 

and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take 
my yoke upon you and learn of Me ; for I am meek 
and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden 
is light." 

The social rule of Confucius, "Whatsoever ye 
would not that others should do unto you, do ye 
not unto them," has been set over against the 
"golden rule" of Jesus. This rule is negative and 
admits of improvement, while that of Jesus is 
positive and, like all His utterances, cannot be 
amended. Underlying the rule of the Chinese 
sage is discerned the principle of social policy. 
For the sake of peace let others alone. Do not 
wrong them. A wise and politic rule this, but 
cold as the heart of selfishness. At the close of 
a life lived strictly by this rule, a man might take 
a retrospect and say of it, 

"I lived for myself, I thought for myself, 
For myself and none beside — 
Just as if Jesus had never lived, 
As if He bad never died." 

Through the "golden rule" of Jesus, "Whatso- 
ever ye would that men should do unto you, do 
ye even so unto them," is breathed the spirit of 
love. Love worketh not merely no ill to its 
neighbor, but it is also kind and seeks opportu- 
nity to do good. The words of Jesus throb with 
life, glow with light, and overflow with love. 

Every word spoken by Jesus pulsates with life 
and every work that He wrought was specially 
significant. They are sometimes so full of 
thought that we have to "look before and after" 



278 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

to see even a little of the fullness of their mean- 
ing. This is especially so in His words and acts 
after His resurrection. To illustrate, let us tak* 
one example. When, in the morning of the third 
day, Mary Magdalene was about to touch Him, 
Jesus said to her, "Touch Me not, for I am not 
yet ascended to the Father: but go unto My 
brethren and say unto them, I am ascending unto 
My Father and your Father, and My God and 
your God." A little while afterward He permit- 
ted some of the women who came to the sepul- 
chre, to embrace His feet. Now why did Jesus 
grant to these women a privilege which a little 
while before He withheld from Mary Magdalene? 
To answer this question we must go back to the 
service of the Tabernacle, and study the official 
work of the Highpriest on the day of atonement. 
We find that while He was making atonement for 
the sins of the people no man was permitted to 
be with Him in the tent of meeting, for a human 
touch would have caused ceremonial unclean- 
ness in the Highpriest. To avoid this He sanc- 
tified Himself and entered unaided and alone th3 
Holy of Holies. After he had made atonement 
and returned into the tent of meeting He could 
again be touched. 

This official service of the Highpriest was a 
figure foreshadowing the atonement made by our 
universal Highpriest for the sins of the whole 
world. Jesus Christ, having prepared His sac 
rifice by shedding His own blood on the Cross, 
single-handed and alone entered after His 
resurrection into the "True Tabernacle," com- 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 270 

pleted the atonement, and returned between 
the time of His first appearance to Mary 
Magdalene and the time of His manifes- 
tation to the women whom He permitted "to hold 
His feet and worship Him." A human touch, as 
in the case of the Hebrew Highpriest, would 
have been contaminating prior to His return 
from the heavenly Holy of Holies, after the pat- 
tern of which the Hebrew Holy of Holies, the 
place of atonement, was made. All the ceremon- 
ial law of the Old Testament is fulfilled in the 
words and works of Jesus, who is Himself the 
New Testament. 

At the close of His earthly ministry the dis- 
ciples said unto Jesus : "Now we know that Thou 
knowest all things, and needest not that any man 
should ask Thee: by this we believe that Thou 
earnest forth from God." This perfect, all-em- 
bracing knowledge makes the style of Jesus in 
thought and expression the perfection of simplic- 
ity and beauty, and renders processes of reason- 
ing unnecessary; but, "Though He reasons not 
for Himself," says Bishop H. W. Warren, "He 
does for others. Would that we could catch its 
succinctness, clarity, and perfect persuasion. Of 
immortal spirits Milton says they 

'reasoned high 
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, 
And found no end in wandering mazes lost.' 

Thus reasoned devils. But not so Jesus. How 
does He treat of Providence? He would not 
muddle a philosopher nor confuse a child. Con- 



280 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

sider the lilies of the field. If God so clothe the 
grass of the field, shall He not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith? Are not two sparrows 
sold for a farthing? If God cares for the least, 
shall He not care for you? It is as clear as our 
electric light. 

"Concerning foreknowledge He asserted: 'Be- 
fore Abraham was, I am.' 'Jesus knew from the 
beginning who they were that believed not, and 
who should betray Him!' It is luminous as a 
star. 

"Concerning free-will He said: 'If any man 
wills to do His will, he shall know of the doc- 
trine. If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me 
and drink. He that cometh to Me I will in no 
wise cast out.' And the beloved disciple truly 
represented Him when He said, 'Whosoever will, 
may come and take of the water of life freely.' 
Bright as the sun. 

"Concerning fate, He clearly linked conduct 
with destiny, and showed that character deter- 
mines condition — sheep on the right, goats on the 
left, and these shall go away into everlasting 
punishment, but the righteous into everlasting 
life. 

"There is one subject that has perplexed and 
tested the thought of all ages and all nations. It 
is sin. It covers the race and pertains to every 
man. It rests like a nightmare on the con- 
science since we turned our backs to the flaming 
sword at the closed gates of Eden. How shall 
it be gotten rid of? All men of all tribes, ages, 
and conditions have stood upon the hilltops and 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 281 

darkened the pure heavens with the smoke of 
their sacrifices; they have given even their 'first- 
born, the fruit of their bodies, for the sin of their 
souls. The rude Hottentot despairs of propiti- 
ation by any means known to himself, and the 
ambitious Lady Macbeth equally despairs: 'All 
the perfumes of Araby will not sweeten this little 
hand.' 

'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
Clean from my hands? No; this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 
Making the green our red.' 

"But the whole question of sin has no puzzles 
to Jesus. All is as clear as a debt that has been 
paid, a sickness that has been healed. During 
His early ministry He said, 'Thy sins be forgiven 
thee,' as naturally as He would say, Here is your 
morning meal. He did not put the conditions in 
metaphysical abstrucities nor impossible sacri- 
fices. The debt had been paid. He paid it Him- 
self. To realize that blessed discharge, and act 
accordingly, required only faith on the part of 
the debtor. No wonder the weighted debtor, 
staring the prison in the face till he should pay 
the uttermost farthing, thus freely discharged, 
leaped for gladness and shouted for joy." 

Jesus is the supreme and final Teacher of the 
method of restoring men to the lost favor and 
likeness of God. Man was created in the image 
of God, in "knowledge, righteousness, and true 
holiness." That this image has been badly de- 
faced in mankind goes without question. God is 
perfect; man is a sinner — is out of harmony with 



282 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

God. Jesus alone has told us how the lost har- 
mony between sinful man and a holy God may be 
restored and the marred image repaired. "The 
son of Man came not," Jesus said, "to be minister- 
ed unto, but to minister and to give His life a 
ransom for many." Again He said, "The Son of 
Man is come to seek and to save that which is 
lost." He takes the lost sinner who, in all his 
guilt and helplessness, cries to Him, makes him 
a new creature and restores to him the favor and 
image of God. Christ's mode of salvation is 
clearly illustrated in a conversation of a group of 
Chinamen overheard by a missionary. One of 
them said: "Chinaman was down in a deep pit 
and wanted help to get out. Confucius came and 
said: 'If you had only kept my precepts, you 
would not have fallen in.' Buddha came to the 
mouth of the pit and said: 'Ah, poor fellow, if 
you were only up here where I am, I would make 
all right.' Chinaman replied: 'If I were where 
you are, I would not need your help.' Then 
Jesus came along with tears in His eyes and 
jumped right into the pit and lifted the poor man 
right out of it." This is the plan of salvation 
taught by Jesus. It lifts the sinful penitent out 
of the darkness and death of sin into the light of 
life, and gives him the saving knowledge of God. 
"Whosoever goeth on and abideth not in the 
teaching of Christ hath not God : he that abideth 
in the teaching, the same hath both the Father 
and the Son." 

The claim which Christianity makes for Jesus 
that He was "God manifested in the flesh" i- s 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 283 

one which no other religion makes for its found- 
er and teacher. "Confucius is represented mere- 
ly as a sage; Zoroaster and Mohammed only as 
prophets. Buddha alone can be set over against 
Christ as one deemed by his followers both God 
and man. But what a contrast! Do not these 
two great solitary figures rise up before us, as if 
to show how vast is the distance between the wis- 
dom of God and the wisdom of man? Christ — 
the God-man — God in infinite love and condescen- 
sion taking upon Himself human nature and be- 
coming a human brother: Buddha — the man-God 
— with vain and presumptuous boast of having 
raised himself to Godhead by his own power and 
knowledge. Christ revealing the Father; Bud- 
dha proclaiming that there is no Father, and that 
all existence is evil and vanity. Christ bringing 
life and immortality to light: Buddha setting 
forth only nothingness." 

Jesus never swerved a hairsbreadth from His 
appointed work. He did it meekly, faithfully, 
efficiently. He never taught nor worked for 
mere effect, nor for personal display. "If I 
honor myself," He said, "My honor is nothing. 
I came, not to do My own will, but the will of Him 
that sent Me." 

No man ever finished his work. In every life 
there is some work left undone, something left 
unfinished. 

"Labor with what zeal we will, 
Something still remains undone, 
Something uncompleted still 
Waits the rising of the sun." 



284 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Of John the Baptizer, it was said — and this is the 
highest eulogy ever pronounced upon any man — 
that he "fulfilled his course." History records 
but one perfect life and in that life the solitary 
example of finished work. At the close of His 
earthly ministry, lifting up His eyes to heaven, 
Jesus said, "I have finished the work which Thou 
gavest Me to do. Father, I have glorified Thee." 

Though Jesus never honored Himself nor 
showed the least inkling of vanity, the center and 
soul of His teaching, as was befitting, was Him- 
self. "This was the secret of His ministry. He 
Himself was the central word of His own preach- 
ing. He offered Himself to the world as the 
solution of its difficulties, and the source of a new 
life. He asked men simply to believe in Him, to 
love Him, to follow Him." Jesus has life in 
Himself and power to infuse life into every one 
that believes on Him. "The Scriptures," He 
said, "testify of Me. He that believeth on Me 
hath eternal life." 

Christ is the center, and source, and Lord of all 
being. Nature, when read in her true light, 
declares Him. He is the Rock of Ages ; the Lion 
of the tribe of Juda; the Rose of Sharon; the 
Plant of Renown ; the Bright and Morning Star ; 
the Son of Righteousness. He is the Father of 
eternity; by Him all things were made; in Him 
all things consist, and move, and live. Holy 
Scripture, in type and shadow, in song and proph- 
ecy, in memorial and history, testifies of Him. 
The things that are made and the Written Word, 
both point to Christ, the Living Word. Let us 
learn at the feet of the Great Teacher. "Learn 



THE TEACHER COME FROM GOD 285 

of Me," says Jesus, "I am the Way, and the 
Truth, and the Life." 

The words of Jesus are brimming full of spirit 
and life. His thoughts are seed thoughts and 
eternal thoughts. They live and develop while 
the ages come and go, and while most that 
the ages produce goes with them into the 
oblivious past. "The observation and study 
of fifty years," says Sir William Dawson, 
"have shown me the rise and fall of several 
systems of philosophy and criticism, and the 
Word of God still abides." 

"Forever, Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heav- 
en." This is the Word which, in the glorious 
gospel of Christ is proclaimed to the world. It 
is "the Word of Life," and enshrines the truth 
taught by Jesus to the "sons of men." It is the 
salt of the earth. "The gospel in various dress- 
es — Greek, Catholic, and Protestant — is still for 
four hundred million human beings, the spiritual 
organ, the great pair of pinions, indispensable for 
lifting man above himself, above his groveling 
life, and his narrow horizon, to lead him through 
penitence, resignation, and hope to serenity; to 
carry him far above intemperance by purity and 
loving kindness, even to devoted self-sacrifice. 

"At all times and everywhere for eighteen cen- 
turies, so soon as these pinions begin to fail or 
are broken, public and private morals sink. 
Neither philosophic reason, nor artistic culture, 
nor even honor — no code, administration, nor 
government, suffices to take its place. It is the 
only thing that can hold us back from the fatal 
downgrade by which, incessantly and with all its 



286 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

original weight, our race sinks into the depths.'' 
No one has ever come, and we have no hope 
that anyone will ever come, to reveal God by a 
more tender name than that of Father, or to pro- 
pose a higher motive for obedience than that of 
purity and love. "Almost any system of religion 
or morals can tell a man what he ought to do. 
Only Christianity makes a man what he ought to 
be." 

"The law lays its hand upon a man's shoulder 
and says, 'You shall not do wrong,' The gospel 
lays its hand upon his heart and says, 'You shall 
not want to do wrong.' This is the only effectual 
cure. No law, however stringent; no govern- 
ment, however strong and resolute; no police, 
however numerous and vigilant, can protect us 
from the evils that beset us, so long as the heart 
of man remains unchanged; for the heart is the 
fountain from which these bitter waters flow. 
The law of the Old Testament was given to pre- 
pare for the love of the new, and all our legal and 
governmental devices are vain unless the Gospel 
is brought to bear upon the lives of men." 

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ; 
He made known the plan of salvation and solv- 
ed the problem of sin; He abolished death and 
brought life and immortality to light through the 
gospel; He manifested the kindness of God our 
Savior, and His love toward man. "Let a man 
once get his feet on the foundation," says George 
Matheson, "let him once stand on the all trans- 
cending truth of the gospel, he will find it to be 
an all-comprehending truth. It will throw light 
upon everything." 



THE CROSS 



For it was the good pleasure of the Father that 
in Him should all the fullness dwell; and through 
Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, having 
made peace through the blood of His cross; 
through Him, whether things upon the earth, or 
things in the heavens. 

— Collossians 1:19, 20. 



All law is benevolence [love] acting by rule. 
— Bdmond Burke. 



God's Justice and Love are one. Infinite Jus- 
tice must be infinite Love. Justice is but another 
sign for Love. 

— F. W. Robertson. 



How Christ's death takes away thy sins thou 
shalt never know on earth — perhaps not in 
heaven. It is a mystery which thou must be- 
lieve and. adore. But why he died thou canst see 
at the first glance, if thou hast a human heart and 
wilt look at what God means thee to look at — 
Christ upon His Cross. He died because He was 
Love, — love itself, love boundless, unconquerable, 
unchangeable — love which inhabits eternity, and 
therefore could not be hardened nor foiled by 
any sin or rebellion of man, but must love men 
still — must go out to seek and save them, must 
dare suffer any misery, shame, death itself for 
their sake — just because it is absolute and perfect 
Love which inhabits eternity. 

— Charles Kingsley. 



Cross that liftest up my head, 

I dare not ask to fly from Thee. 

1 lay in dust life's glory dead, 

And from the ground there blossoms red 
Life that shall endless be. 

— -George Matheson. 



XV 

THE CROSS 

With uncovered heads, in penitence and silence, 
with awe and wonder, we approach "The Cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." We behold in it the 
shame and exceeding sinfulness of sin ; the worth 
and dignity of man; the height, and depth, and 
breadth of God's love. The Cross of Christ 
stands against the dark background of history 
a solitary picture, touched with the brightest 
lights and shaded with the darkest hues. It 
stands evermore in the universe as the special 
manifestation and the most glorious memorial of 
the power, the wisdom and the love of God. Up- 
on the Cross Jesus Christ made an offering of 
Himself "once for all ;" and "when He had offer- 
ed one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the 
right hand of God." He is a priest "who hath 
been made not after the law of a carnal com- 
mandment, but after the power of an indissolu- 
ble life." Called of God and appointed a High 
Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, "by the 
word of the oath He is consecrated for evermore." 

Of Crucifixion Cicero says, "It is the most 
cruel and shameful of all punishments. Let it 
never come near the body of a Roman citizen, 
nay, not even near his thoughts, nor eyes, nor 
ears." As death upon the cross was, among the 
Romans, a mode of capital punishment inflicted 
upon slaves and malefactors, it was naturally 



290 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

an object of popular abhorrence and disgust, of 
the deepest shame and infamy. In these fact3 
are found, in part, the reason why the cross came 
to be the instrument of our Savior's death. He 
died for a race of slaves to sin and malefactors 
against God. He submitted Himself to become 
an object of popular scorn and derision that He 
might lift man up out of the shame and infamy 
of sin. As Jesus made His advent into the world 
in the humblest part of the humble khan in lit- 
tle Bethlehem, so He made His exit by a mode of 
death, the most ignominious in the Roman world. 
He humbled Himself that the most lowly might 
become exalted. He bore our sicknesses and 
carried our sorrows; yet men considered "Him 
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He 
was wounded for our transgressions, He was 
bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of 
our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes 
we are healed." 

Before time was, the place and conditions of 
our Lord's birth were arranged, His words and 
works were assigned Him, and the mode of His 
death was determined. A glance into the history 
of the period in which Jesus lived will show how 
marvelously the relations existing between the 
Jews and the Romans conspired to bring about 
the crucifixion. When all the conditions are 
taken into the account, and the items in the mode 
of death upon the cross are considered, the dis- 
cerning eye cannot fail to see above the scenes 
of the unique tragedy the directing finger ot 
God. From the strained relations existing at the 



THE CROSS 291 

time between the sons of Israel and their stern 
masters, no other mode of death was legally pos- 
sible. The enemies of Jesus had no alternative as 
to the mode of death. There was but one way 
open to them. That they eagerly accepted and, 
releasing a murderer in preference to Jesus, they 
crucified the Lord's Anointed — the Divinely ap- 
pointed Offering without spot or blemish, for the 
sin of the whole world. 

Paul preached Christ crucified, to the Jew a 
stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 
but to them who are saved the power of God 
and the wisdom of God. Not only in the great 
plan of redemption, but even in the items of the 
crucifixion may be discerned the power and 
wisdom of God. In God's plans and works there 
are no trifles. Every event and every condition 
is significant and fits into its proper place. 
Hence every incident of the crucifixion has its 
place and meaning. 

Sin is the great scourage of the children of 
men. Every back bends sooner or later, more 
or less, under its merciless loss. Scourging, 
being the preparatory step for crucifixion, was in- 
flicted upon Jesus, and the sensitive flesh of His 
bared back quivered under the cruel thongs. 
Sin has pierced our feet, thereby crippling our 
movements; it has pierced our hands, thus re- 
straining and marring our work; it has pierced 
every heart, perverting the affections and 
the emotions; and with mockery and dese- 
cration of the intellectual dignity of men, 
it has crowned every brow with thorns. 



292 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

He who knew no sin offered up Himself a 
sin-offering for us, and "carried up our sins 
in His own body on the tree," in order that 
we, having died unto sin, might live unto right- 
eousness. A soldier, one of the fruits of sin, 
drove the cruel nails through His hands and feet, 
and a soldier, with a spear forged by sin, pierced 
His side. Necessity gave Him the most lowly 
apartment of the Khan for His birthplace, and a 
stone manger for a cradle; and when He was 
about to go out of the world and enter into 
His glory, the Roman soldiers, representing the 
world spirit and power, placed upon His brow, 
not a wreath of laurel nor a coronet of gems 
and gold, but a crown of thorns. Thus from 
His hands, His feet, His side, and His brow 
flowed down the precious blood, shed for the sin 
of the world, that whosoever believeth on His 
name might be delivered from the thraldom of 
sin and with new life enter into "the glorious 
liberty of the children of God." 

Truly, every incident connected with the sac- 
rifice of our Lord Jesus Christ was significant. 
No other mode of death conceivable would have 
been expressive and appropriate, even in a few 
particulars, while in that of the cross, every item 
is significant, and when all the parts are put 
together, it forms a tragedy that points to a di- 
recting Will above the plans and purposes of 
earthly powers, and elicits the love and wonder 
of angels and of the wise and good among men. 

As if to intensify the indignity of His death 
on the Cross they crucified Jesus between two 



THE CROSS 293 

malefactors, one of whom through penitence and 
confession became an example for the penitent, 
and the other in his unbelief, a representative 
of the impenitent, among men. A vast multitude 
were eye-witnesses of the crucifixion. Chief 
priests, and scribes, and elders were there ; Jews 
from every nation under heaven, proselytes and 
Roman soldiers — a living, seething sea of passion, 
rolling up its waves of malice and contempt, of 
hatred and fear against their innocent victim. 
They reviled and mocked Him. Those who pass- 
ed by railed on Him, wagging their heads. The 
temptation to save Himself and win the faith 
of the nation by a display of supernatural pow- 
er for His own advantage — a temptation with 
which the arch-enemy had pursued Him from the 
beginning of His ministry — was repeatedly, in 
those hours of suffering, thrust into His face 
by the chief priests, and the elders, and the peo- 
ple. 

But Jesus, ruling His own spirit throughout 
the unparalleled tumult remained unmoved in 
His purpose. Of all the vast multitude He alone 
continued calm, serene, and self-possessed. Un- 
der the envy and malice, hatred and contempt of 
that hour of the powers of darkness was con- 
cealed a feeling of fear and dread, and when 
the sun failed to shine, leaving the tragic scene 
in darkness, while the earth quaked and the rocks 
rent asunder, "all the people who came together 
to that sight, beholding the things that were done, 
smote on their breasts and returned." In spite 
of their efforts to stifle the sense of right and 



294 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

wrong, and of their expressions of contempt and 
ridicule, conscience made cowards of them all. 
Jesus, even while nailed to the cross, was Master 
of the assembly and Lord of all. 

During the hours of suffering on the cross, 
as the period of His passion was a time of com- 
parative silence, our Lord probably said but few 
words. Only seven utterances have been pre- 
served by the evangelists. Through these, as 
through seven windows, we may look into His 
mind and heart, and learn the impressions made 
upon Him by the passing events of the hour. 
They show that He retained the serenity and 
dignity maintained during His trial, and "exhib- 
it all those qualities in their full exercise which 
had already made His name illustrious." He 
triumphed over the sufferings of the cross, "not 
through the cold serenity of the stoic, but through 
self-forgetting love." He looked with pity and 
forgiving love upon His enemies and execution- 
ers, breathing a prayer for them in the first 
recorded utterance: 

Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do. 

Scourging and thorns, mockery and insult fail 
to ruffle His temper or chill the ardor of His 
love. While the nails are tearing the quiver- 
ing flesh, the pain and anguish are soothed in 
the tide of His love. Looking up to the Father, 
He prays for them who are taking His life. 

In the narrative of the dark event there is 
given one bright little eqisode that must have 
been like a refreshing shower on the parched 



THE CROSS 295 

ground to the soul of Jesus, thirsting for sym- 
pathy, and always using His time in doing gooi. 
When one of the malefactors joined in the mock- 
ery of the chief priests and the people, the other, 
"rebuking him, said, dost thou not fear God, see- 
ing thou art in the same condemnation? And 
we justly; for we receive the due reward of our 
deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss." 
After giving this evidence of penitence and faith, 
he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Lord, when 
Thou comest in Thy kingdom." In love and com- 
passion his Lord replied: 

Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be 
with Me in Paradise. 

Here we have one of those flashes of light 
which Jesus now and then threw upon the un- 
seen world. In the ancient Orient the word 
Paradise stood for all that nature and art could 
furnish of beauty and loveliness in landscape. 
This word, therefore, standing for the highest 
rural beauty, was applied by our Lord to the 
realm where those who receive Him go to abide 
when life's transient pilgrimage is over. Jesus 
here, as elsewhere, when speaking of the world 
to come, makes no reference to special location. 
St. Paul, in his use of the word applies it to 
the third heaven. St. John, speaking of the tree 
of life, says, "it is in the midst of the Paradise 
of God." The word seems to be used in the 
Bible indefinitely for a place of beauty and 
blessedness, and may, therefore, designate any 
part of our Father's House which has many man- 
sions and is commensurate with the unseen uni- 
verse, including the seen. 



296 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

This word to the penitent thief teaches that 
the dead who die in the Lord — dead to us, alive 
to the Lord — enter the eternal mansions when 
their earthly tabernacles are dissolved. This 
was the teaching of St. Paul, the great expositor 
of Christian doctrine, and it was the belief of the 
primitive Christians, as is seen on the tombs 
of their beloved dead, of which the following is 
an example : "In peace. Alexander is not dead, 
but lives beyond the stars, and his body rests 
in this tomb." 

"All his acquaintance and the women that fol- 
lowed with Him from Galilee stood afar off, be- 
holding these things." These helpless, disheart- 
ened friends timidly watched the inexplicable 
tragedy and shared their sympathy with the suf- 
ferer. From these friends four of the most de- 
voted, during the early part of the crucifixion, 
drew near to the cross. "When Jesus therefore 
saw His mother, and the disciple standing by 
whom He loved, He saith unto His mother:" 

Woman, behold thy Son. Then saith He to 
the disciple, Behold thy mother. 

Losing sight of His own suffering, He bears 
on His heart His bereaved mother and commends 
her to the guardianship of the beloved disciple, 
who from that hour took her to his own home 
in Jerusalem. Thongs, and thorns, and the im- 
paling nails, with mockery, and insult, fail to 
produce one stoical or different impulse in the 
heart of the Son of Mary. 

After these utterances, "the sun's light fail- 
ing, there was darkness over the whole land" 



THE CROSS 297 

from mid-day till three o'clock. Jesus felt as 
though the light of the Father's presence was 
also withdrawn — though darkness as well as light 
is the dwelling-place of God — and for three hours 
He hung on the cross, with "none to take pity, 
none to help, and no comforters." Alone he bore 
our sins on the tree "when His soul was made 
a guilt-offering for sin." Not only did the 
world's sin in its epitome, seen in the seething 
mass of men near Him, "press itself upon His 
loving, holy soul: it came from afar — from the 
past, the distant, and the future — and met in 
Him." Thus in living a life of perfect obedi- 
ence and enduring all the suffering of a world 
of sin, thereby magnifying the law and making 
it honorable, so that grace reigns through right- 
eousness, Jesus became a perfect Savior. 

Finally at the ninth hour, the moment of 
slaying the passover lamb in the temple, while 
the darkness without was passing from the 
landscape, and the darkness within was fading 
from His soul, while He was coming up out of 
the depths of anguish that human thought will 
never fathom, He uttered the startling cry: 

My God, My God! why didst Thou forsake Me! 

A thousand years had passed since this cry 
issued from the soul of the sweet psalmist, 
prophet, and king of Israel, whose Son and Lord 
now felt the force and depth of its meaning. 
The words of this cry are the "opening verses 
of a psalm that foretells the sufferings, the 
wrongs, the triumphs of the crucified Christ 
Jesus, and as a few notes recall the whole of 



298 



THE BEAUTY OF GOD 



an anthem, so these words recall the whole of 
the twenty-second psalm. Therein the prophet 
is so moved by the Holy Spirit that he is at one 
with the Savior Crucified." This psalm and the 
sixty-ninth, from which the cry, "I thirst," is 
taken, vividly descibe "the shame, the suffering, 
the resignation, the triumphant assurance, and 
the blessedness of the dying Redeemer." These 
psalms, if not audibly repeated on the cross, 
dwelt in the mind and heart of Jesus and helped 
to sustain Him during those hours of suffering. 
Both psalms open with expressions of soul-an- 
guish, breathe a spirit of confession and praise, 
submission and assurance of union with God, 
and close with notes of triumph. 

So overwhelming was the inner suffering of 
the dying Redeemer, caused by the pressure of 
the world's sin, that the physical pain was not 
heeded until after the cry of relief was uttered 
and the Spirit of the Divine Sufferer emerged 
from its deep eclipse. Immediately after this 
"Jesus, knowing that all things were now ac- 
complished, saith," 

/ thirst. 

This was said, not only to make known a bodi- 
ly need, but also to fulfill one of the Scrip- 
tures that were ever dear to His heart, and 
that He had declared "cannot be broken." 

We see in Him to the last His characteristic 
self-possession and presence of mind. "From 
the first day to the last," said Napoleon at St. 
Helena, "He is the same, always the same, ma- 
jestic and simple; infinitely firm and infinitely 
gentle." 



THE CROSS 299 

The final moment has come. His work has 
been finished; the ordeal has been passed; the 
battle has been fought and the foe vanquished; 
eternal life for man has been secured; and now, 
in the strength of victory won in the final strug- 
gle, Jesus cried with a loud voice: 

It is finished. 

Having finished His work and completed that 

"Strange conquest where the conqueror must die, 
And he is slain that wins the victory," 

He then, of His own will, breathed out His life 
on a verse of the thirty-first psalm: 

Father, into Thy hands I commend My 
Spirit. 

While these confiding words were passing from 
His lips "He bowed His head and gave up His 
Spirit." The death of Jesus was not a disaster 
but "His supreme act of redeeming sacrifice." 

In death, as in life, Jesus leaned on the Fath- 
er. God is in all, through all, above all; in- 
finitely great and wise and good. The only be- 
gotten Son of the Father came into our world, 
not to reveal the architecture of heaven, nor to 
bring within the circle of mortal vision the 
beauty of the unseen world, but to make known 
to men the goodness of God. Jesus has come 
and gone to leave everywhere in our world His 
effluence — the goodness and beauty of the Lord. 
The intellect may be satisfied with Absolute 
Being; the will may worship the Almighty One; 
the heart of man will cleave ever to the good, 
loving, lovable God. 



300 



THE BEAUTY OF GOD 



The problem of evil has from time immemo- 
rial perplexed the thought of the greatest minds. 
What is evil? What good purpose can it serve? 
How can man be delivered from its direful con- 
sequences? Philosophy has found no solution. 
Love alone is found supreme. Love faces the 
intricate problem — love compassionate, love 
self-denying, love self-sacrificing. It beholds 
suffering as essential, in a revelation of 
God, to the perfection of the Divine ex- 
cellence. It sees Divine sacrifice as alone 
adequate to the removal of the awful blight 
of sin. A voice of human need cries up 
to God for help, and a voice of Divine love an- 
swers back to man: "Though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." 
"God commendeth His love toward us, in that 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'' 

In a perfect government pardon is impossi- 
ble unless there be a substitute, one who can 
make a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, ob- 
lation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole 
world. Only thus could the law be made or 
declared honorable while God remained just and 
at the same time the justifier of the ungodly 
who accept His offered mercy. 

"Pardon," says Justice David J. Brewer, "is 
not a judicial function, but in the great tri- 
bunal of eternity the same Being is both Judge 
and Chief Executive. And as we cannot sound 
the depths of infinite wisdom, so we may not 
measure the reach of infinite love 






THE CROSS 301 

Doubtless there is wisdom in the provision that 
the finite judge who is called upon to declare 
the law shall not be given power to dispense 
with it; that that power shall not be exercised 
until after condemnation, and then by other than 
the judge. Does the wisdom, and therefore the 
necessity, of this separation inhere in the na- 
ture of things? Does it not rather spring from 
the fact that the power to grant the one may 
lead the judge to ignore the other, and so the 
public be gradually deadened to a sense of the 
danger as well as the wickedness of the crime? 
But with infinite wisdom in the Judge pardon 
is safe left with Him. He will wisely determine 
its conditions and never toss it out as a free 
gift to every criminal. He will never cast pearls 
before swine, and never so act that it blots out 
the sense of guilt. The same lips that declared, 
'Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord 
pitieth them that fear Him,' also declared, 'The 
soul that sinneth it shall die.' Justice and 
Mercy are alike the handmaids of the Omnipo- 
tent. Not inaccurately did the great apostle, 
himself a lawyer brought up at the feet of Ga- 
maliel, declare, 'Love is the fulfilling of the law.' 
So out of my judicial experience, and looking 
through the glass of my lifework, I have learned 
to see in the Cross the visible symbol of faultless 
justice, and in the resurrection of Christ the 
prophecy and truth of its final triumph." 

In the temple on Mount Moria hung the skill- 
fully wrought veil that concealed from every 
eye, except that of the high-priest on the day 



302 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

of atonement, the Holy of Holies, the earthly- 
dwelling-place of Jehovah, and symbol of His 
Holy Dwelling-place in heaven. While this veil, 
the type of Christ's humanity, remained whole 
the way into the Most Holy Place of "the True 
Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not 
man," was closed. To open this closed way 
Christ died. When the loud cry, It is finished, 
rang out in the air of Jerusalem, "the veil of 
the temple was rent in twain from the top to 
the bottom," and admission into the presence of 
God was made possible to the most lowly peni- 
tent. Having now a High-Priest who has pass- 
ed through the heavens into heaven itself, we 
are invited to enter, without priest or sacrifice, 
into the Most Holy place of the True Tabernacle, 
and to "draw near with boldness to the Throne 
of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find 
grace to help us in time of need." 

These privileges and blessings, growing out of 
the death of Christ, naturally, as time moved 
on, associated with the figure of the Cross on 
which He suffered the graces of His character 
and the power of His death and resurrection. 
From a repulsive object, therefore, stained with 
all that was vile and criminal, the cross be- 
came in the minds of Christians the symbol of 
all that is holy and precious. As the crucified, 
risen Christ is the power of God unto salvation, 
those who experienced this power, instinctively 
gloried in the cross as the instrument on which 
was procured for them blessings so great. In 
itself the figure of the cross is an empty thing, 



THE CROSS 303 

but since it stands for that on which the Di- 
vinely appointed Sacrifice was made for the 
world's sin, and on which the justice and love 
of God were revealed, it stands evermore as the 
symbol of human redemption and Divine mani- 
festation. In this light it was viewed and used 
by the primitive Christians, and hence it was 
associated in their minds, not with gloomy and 
ascetic feelings, but with hopeful and joy- 
ous emotions. On the tombs of the disciples in 
the catacombs of Rome, therefore, the cross was 
the embelm of victory and hope. Often the 
cross and the word victory were carved together 
on the same tomb. Maitland, in his Work on 
the catacombs, says: "When the cross was em- 
ployed as an emblem, as it very often was, it 
wore a cheerful aspect. Pilate may set a seal 
upon the sepulchre, and the soldiers may re- 
peat their idle tale, but the church knows bet- 
ter; and thinking rather of Christ's resurrection 
than of His death, she crowns the Cross with 
flowers." 

At dawn on the morning of the third day 
after the crucifixion an angel from heaven broke 
the seal of the state and rolled aside the stone 
door of Joseph's new sepulchre, and He who 
gave up His life and died on the cross came 
forth living, and He is alive for evermore. Here 
we have the sequel and the wonderful power 
of the cross. The remembrance of the meek, 
patient, forgiving Sufferer could never have 
changed the repulsive cross into a symbol of 
Life, Light, and Love if the grave had held 



304 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

His pierced body. The sufferings on the cross 
would have been abortive and useless. Death 
would have continued to reign over the earth 
under a sky darkened with fear and despair. 

But God did not suffer His Holy One to see 
corruption. The power that Jesus used in yield- 
ing up His living body to death, a sacrifice for 
sin, He also used in raising up His dead body 
alive from the tomb; and so overflowing was 
that power that the tombs in the vicinity of Je- 
rusalem opened and "many bodies of the saints 
that had fallen asleep were raised; and, coming 
forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, 
they entered into the Holy City and appeared 
unto many." 

The power of Christ, so meekly and gently 
exerted during the trial and the crucifixion, cul- 
minated in the resurrection and gave fullness 
and force to all that was finished on the cross. 
The hopes of the disciples died with their Mas- 
ter on the cross and were buried with Him in 
the tomb, but when He arose from the dead and 
appeared among them alive in the body that 
had been crucified, their hopes revived and they, 
endowed with new life and power, went forth 
"preaching Christ and the resurrection." 
Through that preaching the world was revo- 
lutionized, the personal dignity and rights of 
the individual grew into recognition; new na- 
tions with new life were born out of the wan- 
ing kingdoms and restless clans of the old world ; 
and the course of human development was turn- 
ed into new channels, leading to a higher and 
better civilization. 



THE CROSS 305 

"From Christ's grave," says Professor Har- 
nack, "has sprung the indestructible faith in 
the overthrow of death and in an eternal life." 
When the Crucified Redeemer came forth, vic- 
torious over death, out of the new tomb of 
Joseph, a dark cloud hung over the world of 
the dead. Those who entered the grave left hope 
behind. The inscriptions on the tombs were 
expressions of sorrow, complaint, and despair. 
In some cases they were flippant, in other im- 
pious. A common Roman name for the grave 
was "the eternal home," and death was, "an 
eternal sleep." These terms, however, could not 
long survive in the atmosphere of the life and 
immortality brought to light through the preach- 
ing of the gospel of Christ. "In the dawning 
of Christian hope on that heathen empire, and 
with faith burning bright in their bosoms, they 
could no longer look upon the grave with despair, 
nor apply to it names of gloomy association. 
Not satisfied with the Latin word sepulcrum, 
which meant only a place of burial, they em- 
ployed in its place one of the sweetest and most 
pleasant words that language afforded ; and from 
that time until now the place where Christ's 
beloved followers are buried is called a ceme- 
tery — a Place of Sleep." 

Among the Primitive Christians, when the 
bodies of their beloved dead were laid away in 
the "Place of Sleep," over their last resting places 
were carved sweet inscriptions, full of hope: 
"Laid here to sleep;" "Sleeps in peace;" "Sleeps 
in Christ;" "In peace;" "In Christ;" "Sleeps, 



306 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

will rise;" "Here lies Paulina in the place of 
the blessed." In these sweet words are seen 
the beautiful faith and the blessed hope of the 
early Christians. The power of the cross had 
lifted the dark cloud that hung over the grave 
and had illuminated it with the light and joy 
of a well grounded hope that was anchored with- 
in the Most Holy Place of the true Tabernacle 
in heaven. 

We have seen why Jesus came into our 
world, and in it lived and died. He was moved 
by love. He "so" loved the children of men, 
that He gave Himself — His own life for the 
forfeited life of humanity. Now let us try to 
see how and ivhen He made possible the res- 
toration of our forfeited life. 

When John saw Jesus, after His baptism and 
temptation, coming unto him he said to his dis- 
ciples who were standing by, "Behold the Lamb 
of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 

When and how did Jesus take upon Himself 
the world's sin? He claimed throughout His 
earthly ministry to be the Son of God and the 
Savior of men; yet, in His trial before Caiaphas 
and before Pilate, though all the Powers of 
heaven were ready to move at His call, He 
made no defence. Caiaphas represented the 
Jews, and Pilate the Gentiles — one stood for the 
civic, the other for the ecclesiastical world. Cai- 
aphas and the Jewish council found Him "guilty 
of death," on the charge of blasphemy, and Pilate 
condemned Him to be crucified because, as was 
alleged, He claimed to be a king. Thus and 



THE CROSS 307 

then, in their rejection and condemnation of 
Jesus the world incurred the sin of rejecting 
God's Anointed — a sin including all sins. 

As He possessed all knowledge and all pow- 
er in heaven and in earth, Jesus must have 
considered carefully and well the rapidly mov- 
ing facts of His trial. The great problem in 
the case for Him to solve was this: "Shall I 
vindicate Myself, prove My innocence and power, 
escape death upon the cross, and let men perish 
in their sins; or shall I submit to this miscar- 
riage of justice, take upon Myself the world's 
sin, and thus save men from sin and death?" 
Love prevailed. Love was again supreme. Yes, 
love had solved the problem in eternity before 
the primordial elements of the universe were 
made. Jesus submitted to His rejection — He 
accepted the unjust sentence of condemnation, 
carried up the sin of the world upon the Cross, 
and died in reproach and shame, "that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish but have 
eternal life." Consequently "He was led as a 
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its 
shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." 
He drank, without protest, the cup of rejection 
and condemnation, and thus secured by bear- 
ing its sin, "in His own body upon the tree," 
the world's Redemption. 

However, after all has been said, the power 
of Jesus to save us from our sins is what Re- 
demption means to us, and as life is more than 
biology and light more than optics, so Redemp- 
tion means more than all our theories and ex- 
planations of it. 



308 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Through faith in Christ crucified is obtained 
salvation, with peace, joy, and hope. There is 
no other name given under heaven, among men, 
in which we can be saved. No other name has 
been put forth with a claim to the possession 
of saving power. A Brahman once said to a 
missionary: "I find many things in Christian- 
ity that I find also in Brahmanism, but there 
is one thing in Christianity that I do not find 
in Brahmanism." "What is that?" asked the 
missionary. "A Savior," replied the Brahman. 
This is the glory of Christianity, that which dis- 
tinguishes it in a special way from all humanly 
devised systems of religion. The idea of sal- 
vation from sin runs through its entire struc- 
ture. An angel of the Lord, before the Savior's 
birth, appeared in a dream to Joseph of Naza- 
reth, saying, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, 
for it is He that shall save His people from 
their sins." In the fullness of time Christ cru- 
cified became to all them that obey Him the Au- 
thor of eternal salvation. "Having an unchange- 
able priesthood, he is able to save to the utter- 
most them that draw near unto God through 
Him, seeing He ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them." 

On the Cross Christ was both sacrifice and 
priest. He offered Himself a ransom for en- 
slaved humanity. He laid down His own life 
for our forfeited life. God's law had been bro- 
ken. Man in breaking the law forfeited His life. 
Justice demanded the enforcement of the law. 
God, in His mercy, planned other means of right- 



THE CROSS 309 

ing the wrong, and still keeping the law honor- 
able. Love, injured, settled the terms and de- 
termined the cost. Love, dispensing justice, ac- 
cepted the price. Love, of which justice is a 
sign and evidence, was thus satisfied. Justice 
is love acting by rule and equity, and so justice 
was also satisfied. 

"There's a wideness in God's mercy, 

Like the wideness of the sea, 

There's a kindness in His justice, 

Which is more than liberty." 

According, therefore, to the Divine order, or 
plan of equitable adjustment, Jesus Christ, 
"through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself 
without blemish unto God." Thus through His 
own blood He entered in once for all into Heaven 
itself, now to appear before the face of God 
for us, having obtained eternal redemption. 
Jesus Christ, having lived a life of perfect obedi- 
ence, made available the law of the Cross — which 
demands the shedding of blood for the remis- 
sion of sins — by shedding thereon the precious 
blood of His own spotless life for the condemned 
life of the disobedient; thereby satisfying the 
law of perfect obedience and making it honor- 
able, so that God can evermore be just in par- 
doning and justifying, and endowing with eter- 
nal life every one who believes on Jesus, and 
leads a new life of loving obedience. 

On the Cross we behold the Man, the one 
true Cosmopolitan, who "carries the world in His 
heart," and manifests "the love of God that pass- 



310 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

es knowledge." "We see in the Risen Christ 
the end for which man was made." 

The law in the formula, "Apart from the 
shedding of blood there is no remission," like 
the law of gravitation, is in its nature inscru- 
table. Both laws have the seal of God upon 
them. The Lord creating and the Lord redeem- 
ing are One. All things were made by Him 
who in our world became the Author of re- 
demption. Christ is Lord of all being. In Him 
the Kingdom of Nature and the Reign of Grace 
form one living, evolving universe, for "in Him 
all things consist," and move, and work. It is 
not a surprise, therefore, to find that in nature, 
as well as in the reign of grace through right- 
eousness, there are vicarious laws ever directing 
and controlling her working forces. 

On the material side of the universe the law 
of vicarious work and suffering may be seen in 
almost any direction we may choose to look. It 
is seen running through the records of the deep 
past, as made known in geology. Rocks were 
disintegrated to make soil for the plant, and the 
plant lived and matured to die for the animal. 
Vast forests flourished to be buried and trans- 
formed into coal that we now convert into heat 
and light for our dwellings and power for our 
machinery. Whole tribes of animals perished, 
as their environment improved, to give place to 
others of higher orders. Thus step by step, cycle 
succeeding cycle, the preparatory making way for 
higher conditions and then passing away, the 
world finally came to be as we find it in our 
day. 



THE CROSS 311 

The old forces, either active or latent, still 
persist. The seed perishes that the plant may 
grow, and the ovule dies that the animal may 
live. Many plants and animals die in the work 
of producing seeds and ovules for the propaga- 
tion of their species. The vegetable world works 
the materials of the mineral world into foods 
and perishes to support the life of the animal 
world. Spring rises out of the death of Winter, 
harvest grows out of the waste of seedtime, and 
the fading blossom gives place to the growing 
fruit. Fuel is consumed in the production of 
heat and light, heat and light die out in their 
transformation into power, and power dies in 
producing motion. Even in our bodies life per- 
sists through the death of their constituent ele- 
ments, which are removed by physiological pro- 
cesses, and give place to newly vitalized materials 
supplied by proper vital forces. Whenever this 
process is interfered with health is impaired, 
and should it cease for a moment death would 
instantly follow. 

Rising into the intellectual sphere we find 
there also our old persistent law. The life of 
ease and pleasure must yield to toil and disci- 
pline for the attainment of scholarship and mental 
culture, and for efficiency in high position. In 
the still higher sphere of the spiritual, we must 
die to a life of sin and become crucified to all 
that is ungodly and lustful in the world, in or- 
der to live unto God and enjoy His presence 
and love. 

Thus we find that almost everywhere "the 



312 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

path of life is through the gateways of death." 
When man, made in the image of God, and 
therefore endowed with personality and respon- 
sibility, fell through disobedience from his primal 
state of righteousness and true holiness, the 
Creator, as nothing created could stand as sub- 
stitute for man in his sin, clothed Himself in 
human form and flesh, and "being found in fash- 
ion as a man, He humbled Himself and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross." 
The Eternal Word became man and lived a hu- 
man life. Divesting Himself of "His eternal 
glory," He appeared in our world in the form 
of helpless infancy, subjected Himself to the 
trials, temptations, and hardships common to the 
life of men, and finally carried up the sin of 
the world in His own body upon the tree and 
died the most shameful of all deaths that God, 
in pardoning them who repent and believe, might 
maintain that eternal justice which is required 
by His own absolute and perfect love. He thus 
caused "grace to reign through righteousness." 
Men can now become reconciled to God, and by 
"dying to sin live unto righteousness" and ob- 
tain eternal redemption. Herein is revealed the 
Supreme Work of the Creator — that for which 
all His other works were preparatory toward 
which they all were directed, and without which 
they would not have been. 

Christ Jesus is "God manifested in the flesh, 
the image of the invisible God, the first-born of 
all creation; for in Him were all things created, 
in the heavens and upon the earth, things visi- 



THE CROSS 313 

ble and things invisible, whether thrones, or 
dominions, or principalities, or powers; all 
things have been created through Him and unto 
Him; and He is before all things, and in Him 
all things consist." In Christ Crucified then, is 
found the solution of the problem of the uni- 
verse as well as the cause of its existence; for 
it is the Divine purpose, "in the fullness of the 
times to sum up all things in Christ, the things 
in the heavens and the things upon the earth." 
The Cross, therefore, stands upon the summit of 
the universe — "the Temple shrine of the Eter- 
nal God" — and is the Supreme manifestation of 
Deity in space and time. In the Cross we be- 
hold clearly revealed the power and wisdom, the 
unselfishness and the unchangeable love of God. 
"Here opens in cloudless glory the Being of God 
in contrast with the nature of man. God gives 
up all for others. Self-moved, He makes satis- 
faction to His own sense of justice and relieves 
misery by expiating guilt." "Herein," says St. 
John, "is love, not that we loved God, but that 
God loved us, and sent His only begotten Son 
to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for 
ours only, but also for the whole world." 

As love moved God to create, so love moved 
Him to redeem. Behind the death of Christ 
was "the suffering and redeeming love of God." 
Not to appease God's anger, but to show His 
love was Jesus lifted up on the Cross. The record 
does not say God was so angry with the world, 
but "God so loved the world that He gave His 
only begotten Son ;" nor does it say God was 



314 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

reconciling Himself to the world, but "God was 
in Christ reconciling the World unto Himself." 
The death of Christ "supremely attests the all- 
embracing and invincible love of God." "At the 
heart of the death of Christ" lies this message: 

"O heart I made, a heart beats here! 
Face My hands fashioned, see it in Myself! 
Thou hast no power, nor may'st conceive of Mine, 
But love I gave thee, with Myself to love. 
And thou must love Me, who have died for thee!" 

"Nothing," says William Harris, "reveals 
character more than self-sacrifice. So the high- 
est knowledge we have of God is through the gift 
of His Son." That "unspeakable gift" declared 
the unalloyed, unchangeable good- will of the 
Eternal Father. "Whatever may be the mys- 
teries of life and death," says Charles Kingsley, 
"there is one mystery which the Cross of Christ 
reveals to us, and that is the absolute and in- 
finite goodness of God." As the beauty of a 
ray of light is unseen till broken by the drops 
of rain and the rainbow thrown upon the fading 
clouds, so the tenderness and beauty, and joy 
of God's love are not seen in their fullness and 
perfection until reflected from the Cross upon 
the dark background of sinful humanity. "Eter- 
nity is God's lifetime." Through all His life- 
time God's love flows unchangeable and bound- 
less. This truth is supremely attested in the 
Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Of the Cross in consideration of any recur- 
rence of a similar event Robert Hall said, "We 
have not the least reason to suppose that any 



THE CROSS 315 

similar transaction has occurred on the theater 
of the universe, or will ever again in the an- 
nals of eternity. It stands amid the lapse 
of ages and the waste of worlds a single and 
solitary monument." As it is appointed unto 
men once to die, so Christ offered Himself once 
upon the Cross and then sat down upon the 
throne of the universe to reign forever. "I am," 
said the voice heard by John on the isle called 
Patmos, "the first and the last, and the Living 
One; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive 
forevermore, and I have the keys of death and 
of Hades." 

"The Cross of Christ," says F. W. Upham, "is 
the center of the manifestation of the Godhead, 
holding it all in one; and there dwells in it 
that spiritual attraction of which Christ spoke 
when signifying what death He should die, He 
said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all unto 
Me." Man, dead in trespasses and sins, looks 
on His Cross and lives. By the expiation on 
the Cross there is remission of sins. But if we 
would dare so to do, in vain we try to look 
through the mystery of Godliness, the center, 
and depth, and height of which is the Cross. 
At the Cross of Christ knowledge finds her life 
in losing it, in rising from knowledge into 
adoration. 

"The Cross of Christ may well be thought of 
as a timeless fact, rather than as in the four 
thousandth year of History. Chronologically its 
place is there, but logically it is before time was. 
He was the Lamb slain form the foundation of 



316 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the world; and for Him all things were made. 
The Cross is not consequent upon man. The 
Cross of Christ is the reason for all that is not 
eternal, for all that exists in birth and change. 
It is corner stone and keystone of the universe." 

In the Cross, therefore, the manifestation of 
the Beauty of the Lord reaches its culmination, 
making it for evermore the center of the thought 
and the adoration of all worlds. The prophets 
of old sought diligently "what time or what man- 
ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in 
them did point unto when He testified before- 
hand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that 
should follow them." The angels with bowed 
heads "desire to look into these things." After 
Christ had suffered and entered into His glory 
St. John saw hundreds of millions of angels 
round about the throne in Heaven, and heard 
them "saying with a great voice, Worthy is 
the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing." 

The Glory consequent upon the death of Christ 
sustained Him in the unfathomable sufferings 
through which He passed during His passion. 
"For the joy that was set before Him He en- 
dured the Cross, despising the shame." 

The power and glory of the Cross are mani- 
fested in this life in the salvation of those who 
believe, enabling them to "rejoice greatly with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory." When the 
seed time of this world is over and the earth 
is commanded to bring forth the dissolved bodies, 



THE CROSS 317 

once endowed with life, which have mingled with 
her dust, the power and glory of the Cross will 
then shine out in the redemption of spirit, soul, 
and body, and the redeemed of the Lord, look- 
ing to the Cross through eternity as here on 
earth, will join in the song of redemption: 
"Unto Him who loveth us, and who cleansed us 
from our sins in His own blood, and made us a 
kingdom and priests unto His God and Father, 
to Him be the glory and the Dominion for ever 
and ever." 

Because of the agony in Gethsemane and the 
sufferings on the Cross Christ Jesus is crowned 
Lord of all for evermore. "His death stands for 
ever as the great event of time, and the life out 
of that death stands for ever and ever as the 
marvel, the memorial, and the adoration of the 
universe." 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 



We all with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror 
the Glory of the Lord, are transformed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as from 
the Lord the Spirit. 

— 2 Corinthians 3:18. 



Christ came not so much to make a revelation 
oi truth by His own words, as to be a Revelation 
of Truth in His own Person. 

— Whately. 



It is the grandeur of Christ's character which 
constitutes the chief power of His ministry, not 
His works nor teachings apart from His character. 
The greatest triumph of the gospel is Christ Him- 
self — a human body become the organ of the 
Divine Nature, and revealing under the conditions 
of an earthly life, the glory oif God. 

— Horace Bushnell. 



If you will let Jesus walk with you in your 
streets, sit with you in your offices, and be with 
you in your homes, and teach you in your 
churches, and abide with you as a living presence 
in your hearts, you, too, shall know what freedom 
is, and while you do your duties, be above your 
duties; and while you own yourselves the sons 
of men. know you are the sons of God. 

— Phillips Brooks. 



XVI 

"LOOKING UNTO JESUS" 

"Talk not," said Agassiz, "of light, of gravi- 
tation, of evolution — these are pens in an un- 
seen hand. Talk of the hand — God's hand — that 
holds them." God's hand makes and holds all 
things. To minds enlightened "with wisdom 
from on high" the things that are made declare 
the Creating Word. The Written Word testifies 
of the Redeeming Word, and declares the One- 
ness of the Word creating and the Word re- 
deeming. Jesus Christ, the Creator and Re- 
deemer, is the Source of all power, supplying 
and directing the forces that move the worlds 
in unbroken harmony, and drawing all things 
unto Himself. He sends forth the sweet influ- 
ence of the Pleides and holds the bands of Orion. 
He wants to be first in our thoughts, the Cen- 
ter of our emotions and impulses, the Perfecter 
of our faith and love. While we study His works 
He would have us see eternal power and good- 
ness above them and within them, and talk of 
the Hand that holds them and directs them. 
While we are passing through this world, bur- 
dened with its duties and cares, and bowed down 
with its sorrows and bereavements, He asks us 
to look to Him and to make His joy our strength. 
"Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the 
easily besetting sin, and let us run with patience 
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." 



322 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

"What is it," asks Henry van Dyke, "that 
we see in Christ? Holiness, and justice, and 
truth, and mercy, and kindness, and pity, and 
wisdom, and love. Through that door our 
thoughts go out to seek after God, not blindly, 
out with a Divine guidance. All that is holy, 
all that is true, all that is good, all that is 
spiritually lovely belongs to God. It is but the 
broken image and reflection of the perfect light 
of His countenance revealed in Jesus Christ. 
Every gleam of glory that flashes upon our souls 
as we wander freely through the world of 
thought, like every ray of radiance that we see 
upon the breast of the morning waters beneath 
the stars, is an evidence and interpretation of 
the eternal light, which is God." 

Jesus, the Son of man, is "Humanity clothed 
in the Brightness of God." The soul of Jesus was 
filled with eternal beauty and purity, having no 
spot nor stain, disturbed by no obliquity of view 
or feeling, lapsing therefore into no eccentricity 
■or deformity. He was the only man whom the 
world has ever seen who was as good as the 
Law — the only man who "brought the bottom 
of His life up to the top of His light" — the 
only man among men who is a perfect Guide 
and Exemplar. There can be no advance, except 
through Him, in true religious knowledge. All 
the scriptures of the New Testament, as well as 
those of the Old, testify of Him. He tells us 
that He comes from the spiritual world and that 
He returns to it. He has seen it and compre- 
hends it. He testifies of that which He has seen 






LOOKING UNTO JESUS 323 

and speaks of that which He knows. "His word 
is our chart, His spirit is our Guide, His per- 
son is our Star. Our motto is, 'Not a new gos- 
pel, but more gospel.' Advance in theology 
through Chirst, means the outgoing of the soul 
into life with God, with new experiences, new 
wonders, new glories unfolding every day. Be- 
loved, now we know in part. But we know. 
And the door that opens before us into a wider, 
richer, truer knowledge of God, is Jesus Christ, 
who is the brightness of the Father's glory and 
the express image of His person." "He does 
not give us a definition God. Definitions are 
limitations. He gives us a vision of God. Vision 
is liberation. 'Look out through Me,' He says 
to us, 'and you shall see the Father. For the 
Father is in Me and I in Him. He that hath 
seen Me hath seen the Father.' " 

In Jesus is presented to our view the Repre- 
sentative Man, in whom the idea of the species 
is incarnated, in whose person is included "all 
that belongs to the perfection of every man." 
The more intently we study the portrait of Jesus 
drawn by the evangelists the more clearly shall 
we discern in Him, "not one man among many, 
imbedded in and bearing the impress of a limit- 
ed environment, but the lone figure of the One 
Universal Man, spacious, catholic, eternal, our 
norm and archetype." He is majestic and strong 
yet gracious and tender; "neither merciful to 
the exclusion of justice, nor severe without com- 
passion; mild and gentle, He is yet equally 
courageous and noble. The features of no one 



324 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

type of goodness monopolize His character. He 
seems to include and to bring to perfection in 
Himself every conceivable type of goodness, and 
to belong to all time, and to be at home in every 
age and place. The local, the temporary, tne 
accidental fade out of sight as we look on Him, 
and there shine out the lineaments of the Uni- 
versal and Eternal." 

The portrait of Jesus, as delineated in the holy 
gospels, portended His power over life and death. 
His life among men accorded with His words: 
"I have power to lay down My life, and I have 
power to take it up again." When, therefore, 
His wondrous life ended in apparent defeat and 
His lifeless body was laid in the tomb, the seem- 
ing triumph of His enemies was but momentary, 
for it was not possible for Him to be held by 
death. God, His Father, who loved Him be- 
cause He laid down His life, raised Him up and 
exalted Him at His right hand to be a Prince 
and a Savior. "So the world-shaking thought 
took hold of human minds, that as behind the 
life of Christ they had felt the movement of 
the life of God, so now behind His death was 
the suffering and the redeeming love of God. 
And this thought once taking root in men's minds, 
lo! the news of Christ's death sped forth, a mes- 
sage to Jew and Gentile — a message burning 
to make itself known wherever sinful men were 
found. For there is no wider need among man- 
kind than the need of pardoning love. What- 
soever speaks of such a love in God, speaks in 
the one tongue that the universal human heart 
can comprehend." 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 325 

Looking unto Jesus, literally rendered, reads 
"looking away from unto the Jesus." Turning 
away from every thing that the world has to 
offer us, and looking unto Jesus is the one thing 
to do in the race set before us in the gospel. 
We are exhorted to look, not to some un- 
known person, who demands our service and love, 
but to the Jesus whom we know, who was born 
in Bethlehem, who on the Cross gave up His 
life for us, who arose from the dead and ascend- 
ed into heaven, being exalted to the right hand 
of God; who is present with His people on the 
earth and is declared with power to be the Son 
of God. To this Jesus "whom God hath made 
both Lord and Christ," we are directed to look 
in life's earnest, trying race at the terminus of 
which He stands ready to crown with everlast- 
ing joy every one who "endures to the end." 

In the old Greek race all ran, but only one 
obtained the crown of laurel. All the contest- 
ants, with the uncertain hope of winning the 
prize, submitted to a rigid course of discipline 
and were temperate in all things. They did this, 
moved by the glimmering hope of becoming vic- 
tors and obtaining a corruptible crown. In the 
Christian race every one who keeps his body in 
subjection and his heart pure, looking unto Jesus, 
runs not uncertainly, and will at the end of 
his course receive a prize and obtain an incor- 
ruptible crown. 

The name Jesus holds in it the thought of 
salvation. The angel, who stands in the pres- 
ence of God, and who announced His coming, 



326 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

so named Him before His wondrous birth, be- 
cause He saves His people from their sins. 

Jesus saves. His arm, unaided, brought sal- 
vation. To save is the prerogative of Jesus. 
The condition required of us is looking away 
from every thing else and from ourselves to 
Jesus alone. Look to Jesus and be saved 
Look and live. As those in the camp of Israel 
who had been bitten by the fiery serpents, 
were healed by looking at the brazen ser- 
pent lifted up by Moses, so looking to Christ 
crucified brings pardon and healing to the 
soul poisoned by sin. How simple the con- 
dition! God does not require of us some 
great thing. He does not command us to in- 
flict punishment upon ourselves. He suffered 
for us. He requires no price nor gift. He gave 
Himself for us and paid the debt. Only look. 
There is no act easier and more simple than 
turning around and looking. "Turn ye, turn ye, 
saith the Lord. Look unto Me and be ye sav- 
ed, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and 
there is none else." 

Turning away from sin, and looking to Jesus 
brings salvation, with peace that passeth knowl- 
edge and joy unutterable. This is the begin- 
ning. The "eyes of our hearts," once turned to- 
ward Jesus and lightened with the light of His 
life, must never be turned away from Him. 
"Looking unto Jesus" means obedience to His 
commandments and work in His vineyard. 
Though we are saved by grace through faith, 
and the work of saving is Christ's work, He 
keeps us saved on the condition that "we work 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 327 

out our salvation while He works in us to will 
and to do." When we have done all that the 
law requires of us, we can only say, "We are 
unprofitable servants; we have done that which 
it was our duty to do." There is no saving merit 
in our works. We shall be judged according to 
the deeds done in the body, and rewarded ac- 
cording to our works, but the glory of our sal- 
vation belongs to Him who "saves by His life." 
To them who are thus saved Jesus is inex- 
pressibly precious. He is their life, in His light 
they walk, and in His love they abide. In Him 
they find blessedness; for in Him there is no 
shadow of mortality, no darkness whatever, and 
no trace of unloveliness. He is without blem- 
ish and without fault. He embodies all the ex- 
cellencies of humanity, and in Him and through 
Him shines the beauty of Deity. In His pres- 
ence God's Holy Ones, with veiled faces and 
bowed heads, cry one to another. "Holy, Holy, 
Holy!" The presence of Jesus is the glory and 
joy of heaven, and His saving power in the be- 
lieving heart brings peace and joy, and glorifiei 
the earth. 

"Lord of earth and heaven! my breast 
Seeks in Thee its only rest: 
I was lost! Thy accents mild 
Homeward lured Thy wandering child. 
I was blind! Thy healing ray 
Charmed the long eclipse away. 
Source of every joy I know, 
Solace of my every woe, 
O, if once Thy smile divine, 
Ceased upon my soul to shine, 
What were heaven or earth to me? 
Whom have I in each but Thee?" 



328 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

It is related that Tennyson and a friend were 
one day walking together in a garden. The 
friend asked the poet what he thought of Jesus 
Christ. Tennyson made no reply till they came 
to a rosebush. Then pointing to a rose he said: 
"What the sun is to that rose Jesus Christ is 
to me." 

While standing on the bank of the sacred 
Jordan, John, "a man sent from God," saw 
Jesus, after His baptism and temptation com- 
ing to him, and said to his disciples, "Behold 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world." Of all the names applied to Jesus 
this is the most pathetic. The lamb, bright and 
playful, the most gentle and most innocent of 
the mute animals, stood in the ritual of Israel 
as the symbol of the sinless, priceless, timeless 
Sacrifice offered in infinite love for the sins of 
the whole world. Jesus offered on the Cross a 
perfect Sacrifice for sin, so that little children 
are morally free from the sins of their parents 
and are heirs of the kingdom. Every individ- 
ual, however, after attaining the age of per- 
sonal responsibility to God, bears his own sins 
until he repents, ceases to do evil, and learns to 
do well, looking to Jesus who bears away his sins 
and begets in him a new life. No man is held 
responsible for the sins of his ancestors, and 
no man need bear the burden of his own sins. 
Jesus stands ever ready to relieve him, and to 
"remove his transgressions as far from him as 
the east is from the west." 

We are not redeemed with corruptible things 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 329 

as silver and gold, but "with the precious 
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish 
and without spot." Those who are crowned vic- 
tors in the Christian race overcame through the 
blood of the Lamb, and they who stand without 
fault before the throne of God, washed, while 
on earth, their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb. 

"Any new set of conditions," says E. Ray 
Lankaster, "occurring to an animal which ren- 
ders its food and safety very easily attainable 
seems to lead as a rule to degeneration." This 
law of reversion to type, under conditions that 
favor ease and indolence in the lower world of 
animal life, is in full force in the higher world 
of intellectual and spiritual life. So clearly did 
one of the old prophets of Israel see the out- 
working and results of this law in his day that 
in his earnest warning to his people he cried 
out, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." 
Not heeding this warning they degenerated in 
physical strength and mental and moral force, 
and finally were carried away into captivity and 
exile. Conditions of ease and luxury as a rule 
foster idleness and ungodliness, and sooner or 
later lead men and women into bondage to "the 
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the 
vainglory of life." 

On acount of this perverted, downward ten- 
dency in human nature, life's pathway is not all 
made smooth and bright. There are rugged 
steps to climb, enemies to be met and vanquish- 
ed, pain and sorrow to be endured, clouds and 



330 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

darkness through which we must pass. Look- 
ing above these to Jesus will give us strength 
and courage, joy and victory. He looked for- 
ward to the joy that was set before Him, and 
in anticipation of entering into His glory, en- 
dured the Cross, not regarding its deep shame. 
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. And all 
chastening seemeth for the present to be not 
joyous but grevious; yet afterward it yieldeth 
peaceable fruit unto them who have been ex- 
ercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness." 
Labor and toil develop strength; sorrow and be- 
reavement, under the light of the Sun of right- 
eousness, produce in the soul patience, sweet- 
ness, ripeness. 

"The heavier the cross, the heartier the prayer; 
The bruised herbs most fragrant are; 
If wind and sky were always fair, 
The sailor would no*t watch the star; 
And David's songs had ne'er been sung, 
If grief his heart had never wrung." 

Darkness reveals the stars. Suffering and 
bereavement lead us up to clearer views of 
God our Father. When we walk under the 
forest aisles in summer the soft foliage hides 
from us God's sweet skies. But when the deso- 
lating winds of winter have made the branches 
bare, we can look up through these same boughs 
and see the twinkling stars. He who, looking to 
Jesus, works and loves, endures the wrongs and 
hardships of life, and bears with resignation i f s 
privations and bereavements, will always be 
able to look up and say: 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 331 

"My bark is wafted on the strand 
By breath Divine; 
And on the helm there rests a hand 
Other than mine. 

One who was known in storms to sail 

I have on board; 
Above the roaring of the gale 

I have my Lord. 

He holds me when the billows smite; 

I shall not ifall. 
If sharp, 'tis short; if long, 'tis light — 

He tempers all. 

Safe to the land! Safe to the land! 

The end is this; 
And then with Him go hand in hand 

Far into bliss." 

Jesus is all and in all to every one who 
believes and works. There is no condition nor 
relation of our being that He does not control, 
and no need that He fails to supply. He is our 
Light; we rejoice in the light of His life. "He 
is our way; we walk in Him. He is our Truth; 
we embrace Him. He is our Life; we live in 
Him. He is our Lord; we choose Him to rule 
over us. He is our Master; we serve Him. He 
is our Teacher, instructing us in the way of 
salvation. He is our Prophet, giving us the 
knowledge of the Most High, and pointing out 
the future. He is our Advocate, ever living to 
make intercession for us. He is our Savior, sav- 
ing to the uttermost. He is our Root; we grow 
from Him. He is our true Vine ; we abide in Him. 
He is the Water of Life; we come to Him and 
drink. He is the fairest among ten thousand; 



332 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

we love Him above all others. He is the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory and the express image 
of His person; we strive to reflect His likeness. 
He is the Upholder of all things; we rest on 
Him. He is our wisdom; we are guided by 
Him. He is our Righteousness; we look to Him 
to enable us to walk in the right way. He is 
our Sanctification ; we draw all our power for 
living a holy life from Him. He is our Redemp- 
tion; redeeming us from all iniquity. He is our 
Healer; curing all our diseases. He is our 
Friend; relieving all our trouble. He is our 
Elder Brother; cheering us in our difficulties." 
Jesus, the Light of men, if we look to Him, 
will lighten us safe through the darkness of 
this world into the light of that which is to 
come, and then be our Light forever. 

"Lead kindly Light, amid the circling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on! 
The night is dark and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on! 
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene; one step enough for me." 

To the seekers of truth, and of salvation 
through the truth the apostles preached Jesus, 
They preached not merely the gospel of a puri- 
fying, elevating ethics but the gospel of a Per- 
son without sin, without fault, able to save from 
sin, perfect in all the endowments of personal- 
ity. The power that is to transform the indi- 
vidual and uplift humanity is not abstract but 
concrete. "It is not subscription to a creed, nor 
obedience to a law, nor indorsement of a system 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 333 

of morals. It is devotion to a Person. 'For I 
know whom I have believed' is the first Apostle's 
Creed. And herein lies the secret of victory: 
A Person, real, living, substantial, potential; 
the exponent of truth, the substance of law, the 
personification of love; a 'who' instead of a 
'what;' a man instead of a method; a Being 
who is Himself all that we ought to be, and all 
that we long to be." This is the need of men, 
the gospel for a world of doubt and sin, and this 
need is met in Jesus Christ, the Great Teacher, 
the Supreme Example, the All-sufficient Savior. 
It is an inversion of the facts recorded in the 
Gospels and the Epistles to speak of Jesus as if 
He were chiefly a religious teacher. "What 
we have to deal with in Him is," says S. A. 
Johnston Ross, "not first or chiefly His teaching, 
but, first and chiefly, His Person: a Person tran- 
scending the limits of earthly life, and of time 
and space, and of race and language; a Person 
attesting Himself alive and in power by the work 
He does in creating persons made new and made 
strong in love. Concede the present day life of 
the Person and His consciousness of man as 
coextensive with man's life, and the peculiar 
vitality of His teachings while on earth becomes 
intelligible; its singular freedom from all that 
would be hamperingly local and provincial in its 
setting takes on new meaning, and we begin to 
understand why the gospel has so wonderfully 
acclimatized itself in all lands, and why Chris- 
tendom is already the one truly cosmopolitan 
State. 



334 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

" Heaven and earth shall pass away,' said 
Jesus with amazing confidence, 'but My words 
shall not pass away.' And again, 'All author- 
ity is given unto Me in heaven and earth: go 
ye therefore and teach all nations; and lo! I 
am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world.' 

"As the centuries pass it becomes increasingly 
evident that the sublime confidence of Jesus 
was justified. His words endure because He 
endures. His words spread themselves over the 
earth and make disciples among all nations, 
because He lives, the Oversoul of the universal 
human spirit, the answer to all its question- 
ings, the Representative and Reservoir of all 
its desires and hopes — the one Word that the 
wistful heart of universal man longs to utter to 
its God, and the Eternal Word of God to man." 
When Lord Kelvin was requested to name his 
greatest discovery he replied: "My greatest 
discovery is the fact that Jesus Christ is the 
Savior of sinners, of whom I am chief." 

Jesus. The very name is crowned with an 
aureole of life and light and love. In a life of 
energy, and service, and purity His name 
becomes more and more luminous and beautiful 
as the years move on. Above the toils, and the 
sorrows, and the sufferings of this present time 
the pure heart beholds Jesus, and when all that 
is visible and mortal is yielding to the subtlety 
of death Jesus still appears within the vision 
of faith and love. "When Stephen was stoned. 



LOOKING UNTO JESUS 335 

those who stoned him saw only a man sinking 
down to death, but Stephen looked up and 
exclaimed, 7 see Jesus.' So must we try to 
impress upon the minds and hearts of the com- 
ing generation that they must see more than 
business, wealth, opportunity, power and con- 
quest, that they must see the spiritual reality 
behind the visible, natural form. When we get 
to this point we will have Christ in this life 
and the life to come." 

The short life of Jesus upon earth will ever- 
more live in the memory and in the hearts of 
those whom He makes kings and priests unto 
God. While they move through the world in 
the service of the Master they sing as they go. 

"And Him evermore I behold 
Walking in Galilee, 
Through the cornfield's waving gold, 
in hamlet, in wood, and in wold, 
By the shores of the Beautiful Sea. 
He toucheth the sightless eyes; 
Before Him the demons flee; 
To the dead He sayeth, 'Arise!' 
To the living, 'Follow Me!' 
And the voice still soundeth on, 
From the centuries that are gone, 
To the centuries that shall be.'' 

Let us evermore look unto Jesus. Behold 
Him making His advent into our world in the 
form of helpless infancy, and subjecting Him- 
self to the trials, temptations, and hardship 
common to the life of men. See Him going 
about doing good, declaring the Father, and 
finally laying down His life upon the Cross that 



336 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

we might obtain pardon for our offences, and 
taking it up again that we might have life 
eternal. Behold Him as he ascends far above 
all heavens and, in the presence of millions of 
angels and saints, seats Himself as our Advocate 
at the right hand of the King Eternal. 

Let us look to Jesus and seek to know Him 
through the Scriptures, through the power of the 
Holy Spirit, and in genuine religious experience. 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 



And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, be- 
cause the Spirit is the truth. 

— 1 John 5 : 7. 



Culture is good, genius is brilliant, civilization 
a blessing, education is a great prvilege; but we 
may be educated villains. The thing that we want 
most of all is the precious gift of the Holy Spirit. 

—John Hall. 



A religion without the Holy Spirit, though it 
had all the ordinances and all the doctrines of 
the New Testament, would certainly not be Chris- 
tianity. 

— William Arthur. 



The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to im- 
plant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to 
guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, and 
to convict the world of sin. 

— D. L. Moody. 



XVII 
THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 

The Holy Scriptures affirm the Being of God 
and proceed upon the implied fact that "eter- 
nity is the lifetime of God." "In the Begin- 
ning God created the heavens and the earth." 
"In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The 
Same was in the Beginning with God. All 
things were made by Him." In the Beginning 
"the Spirit of God was brooding upon the 
face of the waters" of infinity, out of 
which He generated the universe. In these 
utterances the work of creation is ascribed to 
God, to the Word, and to the Spirit. These 
names of Deity, in the manifestation of God in 
human form and flesh, became Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit, thereby revealing the loving, beauti- 
ful character of God, and His ineffable Per- 
sonality. 

These facts make it reasonable for us to 
adopt Daniel Webster's article of faith on the 
Nature of God: "I believe that God exists in 
Three Persons; this I learn from Revelation. 
Nor is it any objection to this belief that I can- 
not comprehend how one can be three or three 
one. I hold it my duty to believe, not what I 
can comprehend or account for, but what my 
Maker teaches Me." 



340 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

This threefold Personality is not a mathe- 
matical, but a psychological Trinity. This view 
places the doctrine of the Triune God within 
the realm of the reasonable; but we can not ex- 
plore nor comprehend the mode of God's exis- 
tence. We do not understand our own con- 
sciousness and personality. To solve the nature 
of God all human thought must forever come 
short. "Tell me," said John Wesley, "how it is 
that in this room there are three flames and 
but one light, and I will explain to you the 
Divine existence." "We know God easily," 
says Joubert, "provided we do not constrain 
ourselves to define Him." "When we attempt 
to define and describe God both language and 
thought desert us," says Emerson. 

God reveals to us through Life and Light 
and Love His power and wisdom and good- 
ness, as they are discerned in His Works, in 
His Written Word, and in His only begotten 
Son. Within this vast domain of Divine revela- 
tion we may study, and learn, and love, but 
beyond it we attempt in vain to pass. 

Everywhere in the Bible the Holy Spirit is 
spoken of as a person ; never as a mere influence 
separable from personality. He "teaches," "re- 
proves," "guides," "comforts," "anoints" and 
"sanctifies" men. "He searches all things yea the 
deep things of God." "The Spirit himself mak- 
eth intercession." After the baptism of Jesus, 
while He was praying, "the heaven was opened, 
and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 341 

as a dove, upon Him, and a voice came out of 
Heaven: Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I 
am well pleased." Through this witness of the 
Spirit, John was enabled to bear witness to his 
disciples that "Jesus is the Christ." 

During His ministry on earth Jesus declared 
God and bore witness to the truth. Since His 
ascension, "It is the Spirit," whose presence is 
not limited by space and time, "that beareth 
witness, because," like Jesus, "the Spirit is the 
truth." 

Though the age of Christianity is the spiritual 
period in the world's history, the work of the 
Holy Spirit has never been limited to one age, 
nor to one people. Abel, in offering up sacrifice 
to God, "obtained witness that he was righteous." 
Enoch, before his translation, "had witness 
borne to him that he had been well pleasing unto 
God." Socrates claimed to "live under a certain 
Divine and spiritual influence." All the patri- 
archs and prophets "had witness borne to them 
through their faith." During the ministration 
of the law, God taught the people by statutes and 
ordinances, — object lessons suited to their con- 
ditions and needs. Also to the devout in Israel 
he gave "His good Spirit to instruct them," and 
the holy men of old who wrote the Hebrew 
Scriptures, "spoke as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit." The lightening Spirit of Christ has 
always been in the world, "rejoicing in the hab- 
itable earth and taking delight with the sons of 
men," inspiring them with wisdom and love. 



342 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

Concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit 
the teaching of Jesus is so remarkable that it 
excites us to ask, "Where was the Holy Spirit 
during the life of the only begotten Son of God?" 
His personal influence was felt in the ancient 
church, as we have just seen, and yet Jesus 
speaks of the Spirit's coming as a new and special 
gift, "I will pray the Father," He says, "and 
He will give you another Comforter that He 
may abide with you forever." It has been sug- 
gested that the fullness of the Spirit was not 
realized prior to His coming on the day of Pente- 
cost. This is doubtless true, but, "the answer 
would rather seem to be," says Joseph Parker, 
"that the Holy Spirit was in Jesus Christ Him- 
self and could not be given to the church as a 
distinctively Christian gift until the first period 
of the incarnation had been consummated in the 
Ascension of the Son of man. 'If I go not away 
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart, I will send Him unto you.' Jesus Christ 
was Himself the New Testament. Whatever 
happened aforetime was but preparatory and 
typical. From His coming the world was to 
date its regeneration and the church was to reck- 
on its birth. 'In Him dwelt all the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily;' and when that fullness of the 
Godhead was poured out upon the Church it 
came as from the very heart of Christ, and 
contained all the elements which make up the 
mystery and the beneficence of the Incarnation. 

"Jesus gives a specific definition of the work 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 343 

of the Holy Spirit. That His work admitted 
of definition is itself a significant circumstance; 
and that the Son of Mary should have presum- 
ed to define it is a marvelous instance of His 
Spiritual dominion. At this point Jesus Christ 
seems to pass from the theatre within which He 
dazzled the eyes of curiosity by the number and 
splendor of His miracles, and to enter into the 
Holy of Holies, the Secret place of the Most 
High, and seat Himself as the donor of spir- 
itual riches. It is a withdrawment — even if con- 
sidered merely as a conception — that invests 
Him with peculiar awe. He says He will do 
mightier works than ever; He will touch the 
life, the will, the love of the world; He will 
ascend above principalities and powers, and sub- 
ject all hosts and forces to spiritual control, in- 
visible and almighty. 

"Let us now see with what simplicity and de- 
cisiveness Jesus Christ defines and limits the 
functions of the Holy Spirit: 

1. He shall not speak of Himself. 

2. He shall glorify Me. 

3. He will guide you into all truth. 

4. He will show you things to come. 
Besides the work of comfort within the church 

He has a great work of conviction to do in the 
world. 

" 'He shall not speak of Himself.' Why not? 
Because He would be speaking in an unknown 
tongue. We cannot understand the purely spir- 
itual. Whatever we know of it must come 
through mediums which lie nearest our own na- 



344 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

ture. The ministry of the Holy Spirit, there- 
fore, is limited only because we ourselves are 
limited. The whole ministry of God is an ac- 
commodation to human weakness. When He 
would teach truth He must needs set it in the 
form of fact; when He would show Himself, it 
must be through the tabernacle of our own 
flesh; when He would reveal heaven He must 
illustrate His meaning by the fragments of light 
and beauty which are scattered on the Higher 
side of our inferior world. Everywhere, could 
we but see it, He has set up a ladder by which 
we may reach the skies. God would have talk- 
ed with us without any intervention, but we 
could not have known the meaning of utter- 
ances which were not bounded and illustrated 
by things lower than ourselves; therefore hath 
He set His tabernacle in the sun and made man- 
ifest His invisible Kingdom and power by the 
wonderful works of His hands. We must be- 
gin with His hand, or we cannot know His heart. 
The doubting disciple said of Jesus that only 
the print of the nails and the wound of the 
spear could convince him of the identity of the 
Lord. And at best are we not all, by the piti- 
fulness of the great mercy of God, allowed to 
begin with the Divine hand, instead of going 
at once into the sanctuary of the Divine heart? 
The Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself, be- 
cause there must be a common ground upon which 
He can invite the attention of mankind. Where 
and what is the common ground? 

" 'He shall glorify Me.' The common ground 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 345 

is the work of the man Christ Jesus. What is 
meant by glorifying Jesus? We know what is 
meant by the sun glorifying the earth. The sun 
does not create the landscape. The mountains 
and the sea are just as high and as wide in 
the grey, cold dawn as at noonday. The sun adds 
nothing to the acreage of the meadows or the 
stature of the rocks, yet how wonderful is the 
work of the sun. Look upon the earth in the 
pale dawn and watch the ministry of the sun 
from hour to hour. How the light strikes the 
hills, burnishes the sea, flashes in the trembling 
dew-drop, and makes the blossoming bush burn 
as if with the presence of God. Every thing 
was there before; yet how transfigured by the 
ministry of light. In this respect, what light 
is to the earth, the Holy Spirit is to Jesus 
Christ. The Sun in doing all his wonderful 
work, does not speak of Himself; he will not, 
indeed, allow us to look at him. If we turn 
our eyes upon him the rebuke is prompt and in- 
tolerable. The language of that rebuke is, — 
look at the earth, not at me; see the opportu- 
nity for service and culture which is given you; 
do not intrude upon my tabernacle, but work 
within your own sphere while it is called day. 
"The Holy Spirit, in like manner, does not 
speak of Himself. He will not answer all our 
inquiries respecting His personality. We can- 
not venture with impunity beyond a well defined 
line. To the very last, men will inquire, 'What 
is the Holy Spirit?' showing that all attempts 
at exhaustive definition have ended in failure 



346 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and disappointment. Yet, whilst He Himself 
is the eternal secret, His work is open and glo- 
rious. His text is Christ. From that He never 
strays. To the individual consciousness He re- 
veals the mystery of the beauty of Christ. The 
Christian student sees a Christ whom he did not 
see twenty years ago, — the same, yet not the 
same ; larger, grander, tenderer, everyday ; a new 
music in His speech, an ampler sufficiency in 
His grace; a deeper humiliation in His cradle; 
a keener agony in His Cross. This increasing 
revelation is the work of the Holy Spirit, and 
is the fulfillment of Jesus Christ's own prom- 
ise. That the Son of Mary should have claim- 
ed the Holy Spirit as His interpreter! Observe 
this as an incidental contribution towards the 
completeness and harmony of the mystery that 
is embodied in Christ Jesus. Regarded in this 
light it is very wonderful. The beginning and 
the end are the same — equal in mystery, in con- 
descension, in solemn grandeur. Thus: 'That 
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit' 
— this is the beginning; 'He shall not speak of 
Himself, He shall glorify Me,' — this is the end: 
are the notes discordant? The incarnation of the 
Son of God was the work of the Holy Spirit; 
how natural that the explanation of the Son of 
God should be the work of the same Minister. 
As He was before the visible Christ, so He was 
to be after Him, and thus the whole mystery 
never passed from His own control. 

"The life of the Son of man, as written in 
the gospels, needs to be glorified. He was de- 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 347 

spised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief. He had not where 
to lay His head. He gave His back to the smi- 
ters, and His checks to them that plucked off 
the hair. He humbled Himself and became obe- 
dient unto death, even the death of the Cross. 
He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. 
Upon all this chasm, so deep, so grim, we need 
a light above the brightness of the sun. When 
the light comes, the root out of a dry ground 
will be as the flower of Jesus, and the face mar- 
red more than any man's will be fairest among 
ten thousand and altogether lovely." 

As the Holy Spirit glorifies the Living Word, 
so He also glorifies the Written Word. "As the 
prophecy did not come by the will of man, it 
cannot be fully comprehended and explained by 
the intellectual power of man. In receiving and 
pronouncing the word, man was an instrument, 
and he must be an instrument also in the study 
and mastery of its meaning. As holy men of God 
were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak, so 
men must be moved by the Holy Spirit to feel 
and understand the Divine Oracle." The words 
of the Bible must be studied, not only by the 
intellectual power of man, but also through the 
eyes of the heart, lightened by the Holy Spirit, 
to be understood in their spiritual meaning and 
fullness. The things of the spiritual Kingdom 
of God are hidden from the wise and prudent 
of this world, because their eyes are blinded by 
the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, 
or the pride of life; but they are revealed, by 



348 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

the Holy Spirit, unto babes in simplicity and 
humility. 

We come now to an exceedingly interesting 
part of the work of the Holy Spirit — that of 
personal companionship, bringing with it Divine 
instruction, blessed influence, and the most gra- 
cious and nourishing comfort. "He abideth with 
you, and shall be in you." In the abiding and 
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He awakens in 
the consciousness a sense of His presence and 
goodness, and gives assurance of the filial rela- 
tion of the spiritually born children to the Heav- 
enly Father. "The Spirit Himself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirit that we are the children of 
God." 

We are born into the world under the law 
of sin and death, and live in the conscious ex- 
perience of its seductive and depraving influ- 
ence. When, in the birth from above, we are 
born into the Kingdom of God, and come under 
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, we 
are taken into filial relation to God our Father. 
This adoption into the spiritual family of God 
gives us the feeling of filial trust and confidence, 
and with this experience comes the conscious- 
ness of the new life begotten and nourished In 
the soul by the Holy Spirit. 

This consciousness of filial standing, and priv- 
ilege, and duty in the spiritual family of God, 
like other matters of personal experience, can- 
not be made intelligible to those into whose ex- 
perience is has never come. To be apprehended 
by the individual it must come within the field 



THE WITNESSING SPIRIT 349 

of his own consciousness. Then he will know 
the witness of the Spirit just as he knows oth- 
er impressions and operations. What can any- 
one know of the feeling of awe who has never 
been moved by the sublime; or of the delight 
awakened by loveliness if he has no percep- 
tion of the beautiful ; or of the impulse of af- 
fection, if he has never felt the power of love? 
As these impressions, to become objects of knowl- 
edge, must appear in the consciousness of the 
individual, so must the witness of the Spirit 
— the Divine assurance confirming the feeling 
of filial relationship to God — become a fact of 
experience in the conscious soul before it can 
become a matter of personal knowledge. This 
experience of the inner life ^comes as an in- 
fluence, or impression, from a Divine Person, 
felt but never seen. 

"The Holy Spirit's action, like His nature, is 
mysterious, so sudden, so real, so deeply felt, yet 
neither to be measured, nor expressed in words 
more delicate than thought, tenderer than love, 
yet mightier than lightning, present everywhere, 
yet nowhere visible ; an eternal certainty, yet also 
an eternal surprise. All this is happily consist- 
ent, and is precisely what might have (though 
with infinite imperfections) been predicted of 
the conditions. A happy sense of satisfaction 
comes with it all. Our sense of the necessary 
mystery of spiritual life is met, whilst the pure 
hungerings and thirstings of the soul are ap- 
peased. We feel as we lay hold of the realities 
of the doctrine that the revelation of the Person 



350 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and minstry of the Holy Spirit is given in the 
best manner, with awfulness yet with familiar- 
ity — that the Holy Spirit Himself combines the 
solemn magnificence and independent solitude of 
the sun with the gracious universality and ani- 
mating friendliness of Light." 

The sun beautifies the earth; the Holy Spirit 
beautifies and glorifies Jesus, illumines the Holv 
Scriptures, fills the soul with the light of life; 
and while "we walk in the Spirit" we live in the 
full beauty of the goodness and love of God. 



'HIS ETERNAL GLORY 



The God of all grace, who called you unto His 
Eternal Glory, in Christ, after that ye have suf- 
fered a little while, shall Himself perfect, estab- 
lish, strengthen you. 

— 1 Peter 5:10. 



True glory is a flame lighted at the skies. 

— Horace Mann. 



The wisdom of the Lord is infinite, as are also 
His glory and His power. Ye heavens, sing His 
praises; sun, moon, and planets, glorify Him in 
your ineffable language! Praise Him, celestial 
harmonies, and all ye who can comprehend them! 
And thou, my soul, praise thy Creator! It is by 
Him and through Him that all exist. 

— Kepler. 



Lord of all being! throned afar, 
Thy glory flames from sun and star; 
Center and soul of every sphere, 
Yet to each loving heart how near! 

Sun of our life, Thy quickening ray 
Sheds on our path the glow of day; 
Star of our hope, Thy softened light 
Cheers the long watches of the night. 

Our midnight is Thy smile withdrawn; 
Our noontide is Thy gracious dawn; 
Our rainbow arch Thy mercy's sign; 
All, save the clouds of sin, are Thine. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes. 






XVIII 
"HIS ETERNAL GLORY" 

Life is something more than the sum of its 
physical elements. Men may take the component 
parts of living matter and chemically combine 
them, but they cannot produce life in the result- 
ant combination. Light is something more than 
the sum of all the colors of the spectrum. By 
synthesis of all the colors men may make white- 
ness ; they cannot make light. Love is something 
more than the aggregate of all the virtues. By 
synthesis of all the virtues we only make virtue ; 
we do not make love. Life, Light, and Love 
are not modes, nor qualities, nor attributes. They 
cannot be defined nor described. They defy the 
analysis of thought. They elude the grasp of 
the intellect. Only phenomena come within 
the realm of the mind. They are ultimate ele- 
ments or substances, cognizable only by the In- 
finite Mind. They are part of the "secret, (un- 
knowable), things that belong unto the Lord 
our God." 

When in our researches we have traced all 
the manifestations of living beings to Life, all 
the phenomena of illumination, physical, men- 
tal, and spiritual to Light; and all the virtues, 
as qualities to Love, we have approached the 
Most Holy Place of the universe, we have come 
"under the shadow of the Almighty," into the 
outshining rays of "His Eternal Glory," in which 



354 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

God dwelt before time was, in which He will 
dwell when time is no more. 

In the highpriestly prayer to the Father, just 
after His work was finished, while the agony of 
Gethsemane and the sufferings of the Cross 
were immediately before Him, our Lord pray- 
ed, "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with 
Thine Own Self, with the glory which I had 
with Thee before the world was." The glory 
that Jesus here prayed for was not a created 
glory. It was the glory that He enjoyed with 
the Father before the work of creation was be- 
gun. It was the inherent, eternal glory of 
Deity for which He prayed. "Glorify Me with 
Thine Own Self." It was a glory throbbing with 
life, glowing with light, redolent with love; the 
glory that the Creator has set above the heav- 
ens, that no man can see and live, in which 
angels cover their faces. God has thrown shad- 
ows of that glory upon the things that are made. 
We see a reflection of it in the glory of the 
stars, in the face of the sun, on the flowing and 
gilded clouds, in the sevenfold splendor of the 
rainbow. It glows in the coruscations of the 
aurora borealis, in the sheen of the ocean, in 
the flash of electricity, and in the chastened 
beauty of the blossoming bush. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, 
And the firmament showeth His handiwork; 
Day unto day uttereth speech, 
And night unto night showeth knowledge." 

But, more beautifully than in the inanimate 
world does the glory of the Creator shine out 



HIS ETERNAL GLORY 355 

in the living world, especially in man, earth's 
masterpiece of the Creating Hand. God made 
man in His own image, breathed into him the 
breath of life, and endowed him with "high 
reason and will," inspired him with spiritual 
life, placed in him a divine light, and dowered 
him with eternal love : thus throwing around him 
a shadow of the Eternal Glory. "For Thou hast 
made him a little lower than God and hast 
crowned him with glory and honor." 

Though the shadow of sin has passed over the 
glory of man, leaving it in the condition of per- 
petual eclipse, the shaded image of God remain- 
ing in him awakens a longing for a sight of 
the Divine Glory. This desire has moved the 
hearts of the great and good of all the ages. 
For a divine manifestation Plato sighed. When 
Tennyson was asked what was the greatest de- 
sire of his life, he replied, "My greatest wish 
is to have a clearer vision of God." Moses prays.. 
"I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory," and Isa- 
iah exclaims, "Verily Thou art a God that hid- 
est Thyself, God of Israel, the Savior." 
"What," asks F. W. Robertson, "is the burden 
of Jacob's all-night wrestle with the angel? Is 
it to get safe through tomorrow? No, no, no! 
To be blessed by God, to know Him and what 
He is — that is the battle of Jacob's soul from 
sunset till the dawn of day. And this is our strug- 
gle — the struggle. Out of our frail yet sublime 
humanity the demand that arises in the earlier 
hours of our religion may be this: 'Save my 
soul;' but in the most unearthly moments it is 



356 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

this: 'Tell me Thy name.' We move through a 
world of mystery, and the deepest question is, 
What is the Being that is ever near, sometimes 
felt, never seen ; that which has haunted us from 
childhood with a dream of something surpass- 
ingly fair, which has never yet been realized; 
that which sweeps through the soul at times as 
a desolation, like the blast from the wings of 
the angel of death, leaving us stricken and silent 
in our loneliness; that which has touched us in 
our tenderest part, and the flesh has quivered 
with agony and our mortal affections shriveled 
up with pain; that which comes to us in as- 
pirations of nobleness? Shall we say It or He? 
What is It? Who is He? Those anticipations 
of immortality and God, what are they? Shall 
I call them God, Father, Spirit, Love? A liv- 
ing Being within me or outside me? Tell me 
Thy name, Thou awful mystery of loveliness. 
This is the struggle of all earnest life." 

In the Old Testament times we see men grop- 
ing in the dawn; in the New Testament we be- 
hold them moving in the sunlight. In the gos- 
pels and the epistles shines the long-expected 
Light that was to come into the world. To all 
who receive It "the darkness is passing away 
and the true light is now shining." God is 
speaking to men by His Son, the Lord of life 
and glory. 

In the prayer from which we have already 
quoted, Jesus said to the Father, "I have glori- 
fied Thee on earth." Jesus Christ manifested 
the glory of God in the words which were giv- 



HIS ETERNAL GLORY 357 

en Him to speak and in the works which were 
given Him to do by the Father. In no word 
that He ever spoke, in no work that He ever 
performed did He show the least shadow of ig- 
norance or weakness. The work that He finish- 
ed showed that in Him dwelt infinite power and 
wisdom. In His pure, spotless life there was 
no darkness. In Him dwelt Divine fullness and 
glory, and to Him was given the Spirit with- 
out measure. In Him were life, and light, and 
love — life so abundant that He had power to 
lay down His own life and to take it up again; 
light so resplendent that in it shone all truth ; 
love so intense and so comprehensive that it em- 
braced the whole human family and moved Him 
to give His Life for the life of the world. He 
is the fairest in Heaven or earth and is alto- 
gether lovely. He changes not and His years 
fail not. He is "the same yesterday, and to- 
day, and forever." In Him are hid all the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the 
embodiment of all that is true, and beautiful, 
and good in humanity: He is the perfect man. 
In Him dwells all the fullness of Divine Being: 
He is God manifested in the flesh. In Him we 
see the human life of God. 

Thus, in the gift of His only begotten Son, 
who is the Brightness of His glory and the ex- 
press image of His Person, God has granted 
"the desire of all nations," and has made a re- 
velation of Himself far surpassing in glory the 
highest hopes of men. "We beheld His glory," 
says the beloved disciple, "glory as of the only 



358 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

begotten of the Father." Time has not obscur- 
ed that glory. It grows brighter as the ages 
roll by, and if men fail to see the glorious man- 
ifestation of Deity in the man Christ Jesus, the 
fault is not in the mode of the manifestation, 
but because "the darkness is in man." He who 
beholds "the light of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ," and awakes with His like- 
ness will be satisfied. 

"Earth seems more sweet to live upon, 
More full of love because of Him." 

Recurring again to the highpriestly prayer 
of Jesus, we find that after praying for those 
whom the Father had given Him out of the 
world, He continues: "Neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also who shall believe on 
Me through their word; that they all may be 
one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, 
that they also may be one in Us : that the world 
may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the 
glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, 
that they may be one even as We are One." 
In these words our Lord not only prays for 
those whom He drew around Him during His 
earthly life, but also for all who in the coming 
ages should believe on Him through their word. 
His prayer included them all, and to them all 
He bequeathed His own glory. "The glory 
which Thou gavest Me I have given them." Mar- 
velous gift! That the Eternal God would im- 
part His glory to mortal man is a thought be- 
yond all human thinking. But has not God re- 



HIS ETERNAL GLORY 359 

vealed that those who receive His only begotten 
Son come into filial relation to the Father? 
And if sons, then are they "partakers of the 
Divine Nature" and heirs of the Divine Glory. 

And, since they are sons of God, they are all 
brothers, members of the household of faith, 
keeping the "unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
peace." This last, all-embracing gift of the God 
of glory is that which constitutes the unity of 
the living church of the Living God. "The 
glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them 
that they may be one even as We are One." 
This glorious unity is effected, not by the bap- 
tism of water, nor by any other rite or cere- 
mony, nor by church fellowship, but by the Holy 
Spirit. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body," and become jointly heirs of His 
Eternal Glory. The living church — the king- 
dom of Christ Jesus — is thus seen to be "a spir- 
itual congregation of souls born anew to God/' 

The glory of the Lord is the birthright of 
the children of God, to be realized in this life 
as well as in that which is to come. It is not 
something for which we may hope, which may 
be realized in the distant future. It is a glori- 
ous bequest that "has been given," a divine at- 
traction that has been through all the ages draw- 
ing toward God and toward one another the 
children of light. 

This imparted glory is, in the present life, 
an inner glory. In this world "the kingdom of 
heaven cometh not with observation." It "is 
within you." It consists in righteousness, peace, 



360 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

and joy in the Holy Spirit. The glory of God 
is a threefold glory — a glory of life, and light 
and love. These are also the elements of the 
inner glory which He has given to them who 
believe. "He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life." "Awake thou that sleepest and 
arise from the dead, and Christ will give thee 
light." "Behold what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called 
the sons of God." Life, light, and love thus 
form in the inner man this divinely-given glory 
— the birthright, through grace, of every heir 
of the King of glory. When the heir is born 
into the Kingdom, the first outburst of joy finds 
expression in the word, "glory." As He jour- 
neys through this world, whether in the sun- 
shine of prosperity, or under the clouds of ad- 
versity, whether in the wilderness of discipline 
and trial or on the mount of beatitudes, the 
"joy unspeakable and full of glory" within re- 
echoes the words of the angels to the shep- 
herds: "Glory to God in the highest." When 
the shadows of life's evening are lengthening 
and the last enemy is approaching, feeling that 
God is giving him victory through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, he passes out of the world with the tri- 
umphant shout upon his lips: "Glory to God 
in the height of His divinity; glory to God in 
the depth of His humanity; glory to God in Hi3 
infinite perfections." Thus "the heirs of the 
Kingdom," while they "seek for glory, and hon- 
or, and immortality" in the eternal future, find 
them also in this life. The glorious presence of 



HIS ETERNAL GLORY 361 

Christ in the soul is heaven, even amid toil and 
sorrow, pain and bereavement. 

"Heaven is where the Savior lives, 
And where He reigns He heaven gives. 
If in the Son we have a part, 
We find a heaven in our heart; 
And while we live all free from sin, 
We've heaven to go to heaven in." 

Recurring once more to the highpriestly pray- 
er of our Lord, we find another, and final re- 
quest: "Father, I will that they also whom 
Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am; 
that they may behold My glory which Thou hast 
given Me." 

As the prayers of Jesus were always in ac- 
cord with the Father's will and were always 
heard, we may ever feel assured that in answer to 
this request of His beloved Son, those who die 
in the Lord, not only enter a state of blessed- 
ness, but abide in the presence of the Lord and 
behold His glory. On this side of the cloud that 
hides the unseen world the Glory of Christ is 
revealed only to the "enlightened eyes" of the 
believing heart, but when that cloud has been 
passed and the light of the celestial kingdom 
breaks upon the soul's vision, those who have 
believed on the name of Jesus will see Him as 
He is, and behold His glory as it is manifested 
in the spiritual world. 

The glory of God is set above the heavens, 
and its modified splendor beautifies all worlds, 
both of time and space. To them who believe 
and become co-heirs with Jesus of all things He 



362 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

will grant, when they depart to be with Him 
where He is, the freedom of His Kingdom, in- 
cluding all worlds. Anywhere with those limit- 
less realms the redeemed and saved will have 
the right, granted by the King Himself, to go 
and to study and enjoy truth, beauty, and good- 
ness. A great and good bishop, in a sermon 
preached in his mature age, said, "When I reach 
the heavenly Jerusalem, I expect to mount the 
battlements and spend a thousand years roam- 
ing through the universe to see what God has 
made." 

All who have become one with Christ and 
have passed beyond the intervening cloud are 
with Him today and "they shall grow in bliss 
till the ripening hour of the resurrection, when 
the Lord from heaven shall again appear, make 
the earthly into the heavenly," and take them 
in their resurrected, spiritual bodies into a great- 
er and final manifestation of the glory which 
He had with the Father before the world was. 
The gospel puts the crowning glories after the 
raised, glorified body clothes anew the spirit. 
That is the ultimate object — its goal and begin- 
ning of the fullness of glory. "Christ puts His 
death and resurrection," says Gilbert Haven, 
"within forty-eight hours of each other. He 
puts ours ages apart. What is it? The science 
that can connect the two ends of a laboratory 
table with an electric spark, can gird the world 
with its flame. Christ can raise Himself in one 
day and a portion of two. He can raise us if 
millions of years intervene. Thus and then He 



HIS ETERNAL GLORY 363 

will show forth His glory- He reserves the high- 
est splendors for the crowning hour." 

The glory of God will then be revealed in re- 
deemed, perfected humanity. Each individual 
in his place will not only behold but also reflect 
the perfect beauty of God. "We know not what 
we shall be, but we know that when He shall 
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
Him as He is." In the transforming power of 
His presence pur resurrected bodies will become 
changed into the likeness of His glorified body. 
And so we shall be ever with the Lord, living 
in the radiance of "His Eternal Glory," while 
our vision of the Beauty of God grows clearer 
for ever and ever. 



EPILOGUE 



Jehovah is high above all nations 
And His Glory above the heavens. 

—Psalm 113:4. 



Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? 
Prudent, and he shall know them? 
For the ways of the Lord are right, 

And the just shall walk in them: 
But transgressors shall fall therein. 

— Hosea 14:9. 



If you wish to behold God you may see Him in 
every object around; search in your breast and 
you will find Him there. And if you do not yet 
perceive where He dwells, confute me, if you can, 
and say where He is not. 

— Metastasio. 



What the world contains of good is from God's 
free and unrequited mercy; what it presents of 
real evil arises from ourselves. 

— Bishop Blomfield. 



To escape from evil we must be made as far as 
possible like God; and this resemblance consists 
in becoming holy, just, and good. 

— Plato. 



As long as we work on God's line, He will aid 
us. When we attempt to work on our own lines, 
He rebukes us with failure. 

— Theodore L. Cuyler. 



EPILOGUE 

A Bishop said to a little girl, "I will give you 
an orange if you will tell me where God is." 
Like a flash of light came the answer, "I will 
give you two oranges if you will tell me where 
God is not." "Space is the stature of God," and 
"eternity is God's lifetime." 

"If with the heart you seek Him 
He's here, He's there, He's everywhere; 
Go where you will you meet Him." 

"God alone is true; God alone is great; alone 
is God." God is the All-Good, the All-Beautiful. 
"His steps are beauty and His presence light." 
"God is as great in minuteness as He is in mag- 
nitude." "God is absolutely good, and so assur- 
edly the cause of all that is good." "God is the 
light, which, never seen itself, makes all things 
visible, and clothes itself with colors. Our eyes 
feel not its rays, but our hearts feel its warmth." 
"God hides nothing. His very work from the 
beginning is revelation — a casting aside of veil 
after veil, a showing unto men of truth after 
truth. On and on from fact divine He advances 
until at length in His only begotten Son Jesus 
He unveils His very face." "God is the high- 
est wisdom. Through Him are wise all those 
that have wisdom. He is the true life, and 
through Him are living all those that have life. 
He is the supreme felicity, and from Him all 
have become happy who possess happiness. He 



368 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

is the highest good, and from Him all beauty 
springs." 

"All but God is changing day by day." "God 
is, therefore, the only sure foundation on which 
the mind can rest." "Naught but God can sat- 
isfy the soul." "His presence calms the soul 
and gives it quiet and repose." "We ought then 
to think of God oftener than we breathe." "He 
should be the object of all our desires, the end 
of all our actions, the principle of all our af- 
fections, the governing power of our whole 
souls." "Do you feel that you have lost your 
way in life? Then God Himself will show you 
your way. Are you utterly hopeless, worn out, 
body and soul? Then God's eternal love is ready 
and willing to help you up, and revive you. Are 
you wearied with doubts and fears? Then God's 
eternal light is ready to show you your way; 
God's eternal peace ready to give you peace. Do 
you feel yourself full of sins and faults? Then 
take heart; for God's unchangeable will is to 
take away those sins, and purge you from those 
faults." 

God, in being and action, is Self-sustained and 
Self -moved; in presence is everywhere and is 
eternal, filling space and eternity; and in char- 
acter is unchangeable and immaculate. He is 
the Architect, the Maker and Builder, the Up- 
holder and Ruler of the universe; almighty in 
power, inexhaustible in knowledge and wisdom, 
and boundless in goodness. Life and Light and 
Love are elements of His Essence which is spir- 
itual and eternal. His works are real and de- 



EPILOGUE 369 

clare His power, wisdom and goodness. God is 
not merely the impersonal energy of the uni- 
verse. He is not a myth, born of human im- 
aginings. The world is not an illusion. Things 
are what they seem — are what they are — made 
as they are by uncreated, Personal Power, In 
wisdom and love. 

God, the Creator, is the Perfect Person; un- 
trammeled, therefore, from within or from with- 
out, in working out the purposes of His will; 
living in undisturbed possession of infinite life, 
inexhaustible light, and boundless love; dwell- 
ing, therefore, in infinite glory and in eternal 
loveliness and blessedness. "How great is His 
goodness, and how great is His Beauty!" 

The evils that abound in our world are the 
fruits of the transgression of God's law by men 
as free-agents. For this blot, made by the abuse 
of free-will, on a part of His works, God has 
made the best possible provision, and, in the time 
and order appointed in His wisdom, it will be 
washed out and the end of sin's reign will come. 
"Every plant," said Jesus, "which My Heavenly 
Father planted not shall be rooted up." Then 
the reign of truth, and goodness, and beauty 
will be inaugurated and there will be left no 
spot nor wrinkle in the perfected universe. This 
"far-off Divine event" God in Christ is working 
out, "according to the working whereby He is 
able even to subject all things unto Himself." 

"God is a worker: He has thickly strown 
Infinity with grandeur. God is love: 
He will wipe away creation's tears 
And all the world shall summer in His Bmlle." 



370 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

In the meantime "we have an Advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He 
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours 
only, but also for the whole world." He who 
accepts God's appointed Advocate obtains par- 
don and is granted Eternal Life. 

He who has Eternal Life and walks in the 
Light, loveth. "He that loveth is born of God 
and knoweth God." Herein he finds soul-rest — 
not passive, but active — rest in living the Life 
Eternal, rest in enjoying the Light of God's 
countenance, rest in "Loving and serving the 
purest and best." In this rest, the soul, with- 
out losing its own personality, becomes one with 
God, lives in God's life, moves in God's light, 
abides in God's love, and beholds God's perfect 
beauty. 

God, as has been stated, is still working on 
the world. When His work is completed, the 
imperfect having passed away and the time for 
the perfect having come, all things will be made 
new, and in eternal newness and beauty God's 
works will evermore reflect His beauty and 
glory. 

In the history of our world, as told in the 
Written Word, appear three great Divine events, 
the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Final 
Judgment, two of them passed and one yet to 
come, in each of which God's audible Voice is 
heard in the silences of the universe, and all 
the hosts of heaven rejoice and praise God, the 
Creator, Savior, and Judge of all the earth. 

In the Beginning when God created the heav- 



EPILOGUE 371 

ens and the earth; when He laid the founda- 
tions thereof, stretched His line upon them and 
determined their dimensions; when, to crown 
His works, God said, 

"Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our 
Likeness," 

"Then the morning stars sang together, 
And all the sons of God shouted for joy." 

Cycles of earth's history roll by, the Eternal 
Word becomes in the fullness of time in the 
little town of Bethlehem "The only begotten Son 
of God" and is named Jesus, because He saves 
His people from their sins; an angel announces 
His birth, while a multitude of the heavenly host 
appears with the angel praising God and say- 
ing, 

"Glory to God in the highest, 
And on earth peace,, good will among men." 

In the opening of His ministry this Jesus, 
whom God has made both Lord and Christ, 
having been baptized and praying, the Heaven 
is opened upon Him, and the Holy Spirit de- 
scends in a bodily form as a dove upon Him, 
and a voice comes out of Heaven into the si- 
lences of our world, declaring, 

"Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well 
pleased." 

When "the far-off Divine event to which the 
whole creation moves" has passed from "the 
eternity of issues" into "the eternity of ori- 
gins ;" when the sea has given up the dead which 



372 THE BEAUTY OF GOD 

were in it, and death and hades have given up 
the dead which were in them; when death shall 
be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, 
the first things having passed away and all 
things made new and beautiful, then shall be 
heard round about the great White Throne of 
the universe a great voice, as the voice of a 
great multitude, and as the voice of many wa- 
ters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, say- 
ing, "Hallelujah; for the Lord, our God, the 
Almighty reigneth." "Salvation, and glory, and 
power belong to our God." "And He that sit- 
teth upon the Throne, from whose face the 
earth and the heaven fled away, said 

Behold I make all things new." 



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